‘One-stop’ container depot bullish about road ahead

RAY SMUTS
THE DUST has settled, the feathers are trimmed, and Container Gateway to Africa has not only shown its first profit after five years in existence but is bullish about the road ahead. “The year forward looks very positive with lots of developments and capital investment by the two joint shareholders,” says general manager Peter Kedian. Although several of the ‘biggies’ in shipping, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and Maersk Line included, run their own container depots, Container Gateway to Africa enjoys a strong client base of some 30 customers, among them Nile Dutch Africa Shipping, Green Africa Shipping and Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL). The latter is making a sterling contribution toward the Cape Town-based container depot, particularly since its acquisition of the now-defunct P&O Nedlloyd stake in the SA Europe Container Service (SAECS). Operating on 35 000m2 of property with capacity for 3 500 containers stacked to a maximum of six high, the company specialises in empty containers. It’s a one-shop stop to include the receiving, dispatching, maintenance and refurbishing of boxes, including reefers. Kedian explains Container Gateway to Africa is essentially a product born out of Refrigerated Freight Lines, which enjoyed a 45/55 partnership with Belgian enterprise, Thornton and Company, until RFL went into voluntary liquidation some time last year. Container Gateway to Africa is still 50% owned by Thornton, but has a new partner in King’s Rest Container Parks, which also operates depots in Durban, Richards Bay and Johannesburg. Turning over around R12 million annually, Kedian says: “The past year has been our best because the company had many issues, now resolved, to deal with in its first four years of existence, among these a shareholder change.”