The ramped-up export strategy by Southern Africa’s Citrus Growers’ Association (CGA) to reach 260 million cartons by 2032, ‘Vision 260', received a major boost last Thursday when Mediterranean Shipping Company opened its first-ever reefer warehouse worldwide.
According to Justin Chadwick, chief executive of the CGA, the “R350 million cold store is a significant development in ensuring this future capacity as it can accommodate 10,000 pallets and is less than 10 kilometres from the Port of Durban.”
Getting to 200 million cartons by 2025 means an additional 40 million cartons have to be added to throughput.
To continuously scale up capacity means cold chain capability has to be built out, and warehousing is a large part of this, Chadwick said.
He lauded the dignitaries who attended the opening of the facility, which will be run by MSC’s intermodal logistics operator, Medlog, including MSC SA chairperson, Captain Salvatore Sarco, his son and managing director, Rosarion Sarno, and the line’s CEO, Søren Toft.
“A large part of the growth of the southern African citrus industry is due to MSC shipping services, ensuring that good quality citrus was delivered timeously to all corners of the globe,” Chadwick said.
“The company calls at 520 ports in 150 countries, allowing a good spread of our citrus.”
He added that it was equally encouraging that KwaZulu Natal Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube attended the event, welcoming “the improvement in the supply chain and support for perishable, time-sensitive and temperature-sensitive cargo”.
It is the second cold chain milestone recorded by MSC in South Africa in recent times.
In February the carrier also introduced in new additional direct service for refrigerated cargo from the Port of Ngqura to Europe.
