Equipment shortage jeopardises CT fruit exports

THE INTEGRITY of the cold chain was recently called into question when Charles Hughes, CEO of major exporter Tru-Cape Fruit Marketing, discovered to his dismay a R4 million shipment could not be shifted from the port of Cape Town, due to the unavailability of necessary equipment. Whether that relates to a shortage of on-board reefer plugs or reefer boxes is not the issue, says Hughes. What matters is that he was unable to ship to important overseas markets the equivalent of 34 teus, each containing 20 pallets of apples and pears. Hughes says his understanding from carriers is that they do not have available equipment or space, a dilemma that could have serious consequences for deciduous exports, were it to continue. “On top of that, Durban continues to suffer major delays and once all the reefer slots have been allocated there, ships simply don’t come to Cape Town which is left off the list." Hughes tells FTW Durban remains a problem each year. Information gleaned from an industry source reveals that one million cartons of deciduous have been approved for export in the past few weeks but could not be shipped, making this an industry headache rather than one confined to a single company. “One million cartons represents a lot of money (about R100 a carton) so potentially there is R100 million of fruit lurking out there.” The way he tells it, the first bad news was that 20 Tru-Cape feus could not be shipped, followed by 34 feus the following week and thereafter only a single feu in week three. Hughes points out that exporters are locked into fixedterm supply contracts, making it imperative for fruit to reach their destinations on time. “The markets are starting to close on us ahead of northern hemisphere fruit coming on stream so we have to fulfil our obligations. A lost call is a lost sale which cannot be picked up the following week. Given that our season runs through to January, we need a solution soon, otherwise we are in trouble.” Hughes fully endorses the sentiments of Stuart Symington, CEO of the Fresh Produce Exporters’ Forum (FPEF), that fruit exporters are losing out because of inefficiencies in cold storage and port congestion and that any break in the cold chain could have a telling effect on profits. FTW approached Safmarine, a major player in the North Europe-South Africa trade, for comment on Hughes’ claims. The carrier says: “There has been high demand for reefer equipment in recent months for various reasons, but a significant contributing factor appears to be the impact of the shortage of conventional space, which has resulted in more favourable rates for reefer boxes than for conventional space. “While demand for reefer equipment has been high, especially during June and July, Safmarine has been able to accommodate the equipment needs of all its contracted reefer customers, all its vessels calling Cape Town as per schedule.” MSC has more than enough reefer boxes and so evidently has Cape Town but the carrier says a peak season shortage of reefer plug points is experienced by all the lines.