As the citrus season moves into high gear, Maersk has brought in 1 800 empty refrigerated 40-foot containers from the Middle East as additional stock to offset the scarcity of reefer containers in South Africa.
“There is additional supply to come,” said Jonathan Horn, managing director for Maersk Southern Africa and Indian Ocean Islands, “and these departed Jebel Ali last weekend and are expected to arrive in Durban early May to be distributed among Maersk and Safmarine customers.”
The scarcity is the result of the imbalance in trade flows, impacted by the lockdown in China in Q1 and the expected stronger demand for South African fruit.
Since February, Maersk has developed several global solutions for customers to work through the current challenging trade scenario, according to Horn. They include providing alternative sea and land routes, terminals, cold-storage depots in China and Russia, extra trucking services, rail services support and daily advisories, updating customers worldwide on how to keep their goods moving
