Grindrod develops innovative logistics option for malt imports

In a combination of three of its subsidiary operations, the Grindrod group has devised a highly cost-efficient means of transporting major consignments of imported malt to its destination at Sedibeng Brewery in Klip Rivier in southern Gauteng. “It was an effort combining innovation and sustained cooperation between three Grindrod businesses, to get closer to meeting the client’s needs,” said Adriaan van Dyk, national line manager at King & Sons and the originator of the new plan. Until now, the Grindrod companies, King & Sons and Grindrod Intermodal, have played a traditional role in the import of malt from France and Belgium via the port of Antwerp, and carried to Durban by Maritime Carrier Shipping. The cargoes are shipped and transported to Durban in six-metre containers, and/or 1.25 metric tonne mini-bulk bags as breakbulk parcels. The containers are then railed to Grindrod Intermodal Kazerne depot and transferred to road tipper trucks for delivery to site as and when required. The big bags are warehoused in Durban and transported to Sedibeng Brewery by road, on request of the customer. “We are currently in the pilot phase of a project, which involves using 12m containers that have had hatches installed in the top,” Van Dyk told FTW. The containers are transported to the vessel side on a flatbed truck where they are loaded with bulk malt via grab discharge into gravity hoppers. Then the vehicles pass through a weighbridge and the containers are stacked fivehigh at Grindrod Intermodal’s Bremen Road depot. When the brewery calls for its malt, the container is lifted onto a specially made tipping frame. One end is raised and, as it vibrates, the malt flows into a 40-cubic metre bulk side-tipper truck, where the bins have been completely cleaned. They are then covered securely, and the load is taken by Grindrod Logistics’ dry bulk trucks to the brewery. There, the load is tipped into bins which have been specially designed to receive the malt directly from the side-tipper road trucks. These bins are then placed onto a tipping frame by fork-truck on site. The malt is then tipped into the intake facility at the brewery’s conveyor system – to be stored in its silos awaiting the brewing process. “The demonstration was a success and was positively received,” said Van Dyk. “It is an example of how, by adapting to the specific needs of the client, integrated Grindrod companies in the supply chain can add value to our clients’ operations, and thus secure future orders.”