In-house fumigation department keeps exports ‘legal’

KEVIN MAYHEW
WITH STRICT international fumigation requirements on exports of agricultural commodities in place, Bridge Shipping (Zambia) has established an in-house and mobile fumigation department. Managing director Cheyne Pretorius says the new facility issues clearance certificates on behalf of the Zambian Department of Agriculture – the only fumigation company to supply and publish gas concentration results on certificates. Fumigation of agricultural commodities is a prerequisite for export and products may be stopped at border posts should their phyto-sanitary certificates be incomplete or not available. “We have our own facility on site here in Lusaka or we can send a team out to the client and undertake the fumigation process there. The product is covered with a fumigation sheet and then sealed to create an airtight condition. Gas is applied and the product is exposed for the minimum period (these periods differ between various commodities). “Gas concentration readings are taken throughout the fumigation period to ensure an effective treatment. Once the desired time period has lapsed, the sheets are removed and it is ready for certification and obviously export,” he explained. Bridge Shipping (Zambia) is the over border office of Bridge Shipping in South Africa. Its Zambian operations – established in 2001 – have experienced rapid growth. The company expanded its presence to the Copperbelt, with an office in Ndola that has its own covered warehouse, rail siding and weighing facilities. Now it has a fumigation department as well.