New scheme guarantees pristine reefer exports

Zero Damage Control initiative launched Anton du Preez, m.d. of Anlin Shipping, with Captain Hector Dumaguin, master of the newest Seatrade vessel Santa Catharina and Captain Bero Vranic (centre), the Seatrade supercargo responsible for South African perishable exports. Ray Smuts WHEN THE spanking new Seatrade vessel Santa Catharina sailed from Cape Town for Sheerness and Rotterdam last week, her holds filled with 4 000 pallets of citrus and apples, she became the first to comply with Zero Damage Control, a new initiative aimed at ensuring fruit arrives at its destination in pristine all-round condition. Flowing from a Seatrade Reefer Chartering/Anlin Shipping workshop with agents in Rotterdam last November, the ZDC concept - said to be a world first - demands that certain specific logistical procedures are put in place, starting at the packhouse and continuing with road transport, terminal operations, cranage, stevedoring, shipping and discharging of cargoes. "No one will be able to hide behind anyone else in the logistics chain so it is now possible for the exporter to say to the importer with confidence "I have given you a perfect product, go and sell," Anton du Preez, managing director of Anlin Shipping, told FTW aboard the sparkling white, R216 million vessel. To ensure that the product is still perfect at its end destination, the ZDC procedures now firmly in place at Fresh Produce Terminals (FPT) in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Durban and Maputo - also applicable to Southern African Fruit Terminals (SAFT) - are as follows: l Port terminals must ensure that conventional cargoes are received in good order and that any that do not comply should be repaired or rectified by the terminal operator or the original packhouse. l Any pallets damaged in the loading process (by cranes or stevedores) are to be returned ashore for repair and re-shipment if possible. l Stevedores must at all times use walking boards, slipsheets, T-bars and spreaders to prevent cargo damage in the loading process. l Prior to discharge, cargo should be inspected to determine possible sea damage and if any, the Master of the vessel should be notified. l Independent tally supervision must be used to ensure that correct out-turns are recorded. Du Preez told FTW that an estimated 1,5% of Anlin's total shipments of around 350 000 conventional pallets a year were not in pristine condition on arrival and that the aim of ZDC was to minimise this even further through the appointment of super cargoes in all ports, employing outsourced operatives to check cargoes, and using Seatrade's new specialised loading equipment. ZDC is the latest significant development since the introduction of Seatrade's reefer vessel liner service between South Africa and Europe in January 1998 which has since been significantly expanded.