Difficult six months for industry

The first six months of 2011
have not been kind to South
Africa’s fruit export industry,
according to Safmarine’s
newly appointed Reefer
Executive, John Mac Donald.
“Growers have had to
contend with unfavourable
weather conditions, including
extreme heat, heavy rain, hail
and flooding while shippers
have been negatively impacted
by a strong rand and tough
competition from other
markets.
“The high bunker fuel
prices in 2011 have also
contributed to increased
pressure on all parties’
bottom line, compounding
an already difficult season.
Not surprisingly, container
volumes for fruit exports were
down for the first six month of
2011, compared to 2010.”
Mac Donald, who
succeeded Greg Rohrs as
Safmarine’s Reefer Executive
in June this year, says
the industry also had to
accommodate poor schedule
reliability at certain times on
certain services as a result of
the implementation of the new
Navis IT system at the Durban
Container Terminal (DCT).
Overall, the highly
competitive conditions
experienced in South Africa’s
traditional markets have
encouraged South African fruit
exporters to look elsewhere,
particularly the Middle East.
Says Mac Donald: “While
volumes to northern Europe
are down, year on year, we
have seen an opposite trend
in the Africa and Far East
markets, and exports to the
Med and North America are
showing a positive growth
trend.”
Mac Donald – who has been
involved with Safmarine’s
reefer business for the past
14 years – heads a highly
experienced Safmarine reefer
team that comprises Charlie
De Cooker as National Reefer
Capacity/Operations Manager
(with more than 35 years with
Safmarine); Jaco Visagie as
National Reefer Manager/Key
Account Owner and Maria
Webster, National Reefer
Import/Export Manager.
Together the team have over
67 years of service with
Safmarine.
“I am excited to be at
the helm of this team, a
team which believes in the
Safmarine way of doing
business and which is
determined to go the extra
mile to understand what our
customers need from us and to
do whatever we can to deliver
on those expectations.”