In light of the congestion and a lack of sufficient cold chain equipment at the port of Durban this citrus season it is “imperative” that producers and exporters re-examine their strategy around logistics, according to logistics development manager of the Citrus Growers’ Association (CGA), Mitchell Brooke.
This is especially important given that CGA projections indicate a growth in volumes to 90 million cartons of citrus from the northern production regions by 2022, compared to around 77.5 million cartons for the 2018 season. This is about five million more cartons than the 2017 season, hence the logistical issues that arose.
Brooke explained that this had begun with the grapefruit season starting three weeks later and then overlapping with the navel season.
“Production of both commodities was higher in the northern region (KwaZulu Natal through to Zimbabwe), along with a higher production of lemons and soft citrus,” he said. Valencias also started later this season, peaking on the back of higher tail-end production of the commodities mentioned above.
According to Brooke this caused a “massive influx” of consignments into Durban which caused a block-out of cold storage capacity in the port.
“A surge in containerised shipping followed which saw the container terminals running out of reefer plug points which prevented the packing of containers for three days,” he pointed out. To compound the issue, containerised citrus exports to China have doubled this year. “Exports to China require cold treatment which doubled the need for forced air cooling space, as well specific types of containers and trucks with genset units.”
These added demands for cold treatment shipments caused a backlog of exports as the supply of container equipment and trucks could not keep up with demand, he said. CGA CEO Justin Chadwick further pointed out that the resources of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Daff) and the Perishable Products Export Control Board (PPECB) had been stretched very thin, having issued over 1 000 more pre-clearance certificates this season, further delaying depot releases.
FTW reached out to both parties for comment but e-mails went unanswered.
Brooke said that to minimise the challenges going forward, Daff had suggested a form of operational intervention to “streamline the challenges around increasing pre-clearance inspections and cold treatment shipments”.
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A surge in containerised shipping has seen the container terminals running out of reefer plug points. – Mitchell Brooke
