Extending beyond fruit RAY SMUTS BUNDLE UPON bundle of imported steel covering a quayside usually taken up by rows of fully-laden fruit trucks bore stark evidence last week to Fresh Produce Terminals’ bold new initiative to become a major multi-purpose cargo player at all its terminals. In so doing, the company is dropping its full name to become known simply as FPT. It will be positioned as a multi-purpose terminal in Durban, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. FPT is now in the final stages of a major repositioning strategy, along with a new advertising campaign, the thrust of which is: We’ve taken on a bigger load to lighten yours.” The official roll-out is January 1. “Our new direction is not a move away from fruit,” says MD Danie Maartens. “What we are saying is we have terminals with certain capacity. With the increase in containerisation of fruit, fruit shipped as conventional cargo is fairly static and we therefore intend to grow the company outside of fruit.” He assures the company’s many fruit customers that fruit will always remain a large part of the core business of the six-year-old company. Gazing out at a giant bulk carrier Nemtas 1 off-loading 19 500 tons of steel reinforcing bars for the Western Cape construction industry – largest such cargo yet landed at a quay in Cape Town – while an adjacent carrier, Wisdom C, off-loads 28 000 tons of grain from the Argentine, Maartens makes the point that fruit is a seasonal product, therefore capacity is under-utilised. “We have to operate this business on a full 12-month cycle as there is capacity available.” Another major new direction, apart from going multi-purpose, is FPT’s intention to go international, initially with fruit. The company has already identified opportunities in Ghana, Russia and China, and these are being followed through. What has been remarkable is just how rapidly FPT’s general cargo business has taken off since it started in the Mother City port toward the end of last year, says Maartens. Durban has been handling general cargo for several years. With a further healthy rise anticipated next year, this will in terms of tonnage equate to 800 000 tons of general cargo and some 900 000 tons of fruit by the end of 2007. Already, says Maartens, growth in general cargo is accounting for around 20% of FPT’s revenue. He predicts that it will increase by a further 10% next year.
