Logistics ‘sabotage’ costs R1200 000 in export orders

Export successes notwithstanding, Chris and Gillian Ferraro are fuming after their budding Western Cape export agency lost international contracts worth R1200 000 over Transnet’s inability to deliver the goods on time. This after the couple, who set up Cape Karoo Traders in the platteland precinct of Rawsonville two years ago, had expended time and energy to secure a Thai order for five 20-foot equivalents of wet salted cow hides worth R800 000 only to see it torpedoed by the crippling 17-day worker strike in June. A further order worth R400 000 for two 20-footers to China was also subsequently cancelled due to strike-induced delays. “The customer had been very patient, bearing with us throughout the strike, but eventually decided to call it a day.” Zimbabwean-borne Ferraro and her Italian husband Chris have nonetheless bounced back by securing more contracts, several new, in Thailand and China and vowed to take steps to safeguard the company against crises beyond their control, in light of the Transnet debacle. “The cancelled Thai contract was to have been the first in what may have become a significant ongoing order,” said Gillian. “That is why I am so irate and why I would like to go to Transnet and beat them up.” “We, as relative newcomers to the export business, are up against the odds, not least from Transnet, so we realise doing business in South Africa is bloody hard work. “Firstly we had to contend with the restrictions of the National Credit Act, then the strong rand affected our prices, and then just when we were finding our feet again, Transnet decided to strike for three weeks and we couldn’t deliver our orders.” For those in the dark about Rawsonville, it’s a small village in the Goudini winemaking region, a few hours’ drive from Cape Town. Although they were the town’s first English-speaking residents, flying the Italian flag outside their house and rooting for the Azzuri (Italy’s national soccer team) in the Fifa World Cup, they have been warmly accepted into the community. The couple were fed up with the drudgery of big city life – crime, traffic, noise and so on – and decided to sell up their Cape Town southern suburbs home, acquire a 4x4 and head for the country. A chance introduction to a Pakistani businessman was to change their lives forever, but the couple admits it has been no walk in the park. Gillian worked for a good number of years in the freight and shipping industry, with the likes of Renfreight, Mitchell Cotts, Fedex and UPS and says “the industry was kind to me.” These days, they have their routine cut out. Cape Karoo Traders, a US$5 million a year business, specialises in the export of wet salted skins and hides to tanneries in the Far East. This year their new division, wines and edible oils, will ship four million litres of varied Breede Kloof Valley wines to China. Chris, formerly in the aeronautical engineering business and a qualifed helicopter pilot, says one of the latest signings is a R4.5 million China order for 11 containers of wet salted Dorpers and Merino sheep skins that could well be the first of at least six monthly shipments. Various edible oils also feature on the export agenda, with a Spanish company sealing an order for one million litres of soya bean oil a year. Given that most of the export commodities (wine excluded) emanate from Gauteng, Limpopo and KZN, Durban is the main port for export consignments. The company’s regular shipping agents kept them informed through regular bulletins and updates on the strike. “I used these updates to inform my overseas customers – so Transnet’s reputation went far and wide,” said Gillian. “We can only hope for better times ahead otherwise I’ll find myself drinking more wine than I export!”