Inconsistency threatens PE’s reefer growth

Given the good port infrastructure available at Port Elizabeth, port inefficiency is not only a frustration to users but in the long term could threaten the provincial economy by prompting discouraged PE port users to switch to Cape Town. “The port, the shipping lines, the cold storage companies, we all have to read from the same page. We absolutely rely on the efficiency of the port, and the port relies on everyone else’s efficiency. We must fight not to have the fruit that now moves out of PE sent to Cape Town. Cape Town offers competitive rates when you factor in the waits at PE,” said Len Cowley, assistant manager of cold storage at PE Cold Storage. An admitted booster of Port Elizabeth’s port infrastructure, Cowley says, is Ngqura port. “In my lifetime and my children’s lifetimes I don’t think we’ll ever see another man-made port built from scratch.” While he is proud of this achievement, he is critical of the shortcomings that are hobbling PE port operations. “Right now (July) we are slap bang in the middle of the citrus export year. The crop is fine but the weather at PE harbour is a problem. Everything gets blamed on the weather, but I feel it’s not always the reason,” he says. A shortage of reefer plugin points is one problem. “Today again there is nothing available. So our customers’ shipments are kept here in cold storage. That causes bottlenecks. I’m not a control freak but I hate it when things are completely out of control. We are able to handle 100 containers a day, but with all the restrictions it could be seven on one day and 150 the next day. There’s no consistency. I can handle anything but inefficiency. In my ten years on this job this has been the worst in terms of logistics,” Cowley said. He quickly adds, “Every year at peak time I ask myself ‘Why?’ But once this business gets into your blood you can’t get it out – everything else seems to move in slow motion.”