The Citrus Growers Association (CGA) has announced that four key rail sites would be available to growers in the north of South Africa by 2018.
This as the association has been prioritising the implementation of rail services in the north due to increasing operational problems at the Port of Durban and the fact that citrus production is expected to grow by 18% over the next few years according to CGA logistics development manager, Mitchell Brooke.
The key rail sites include the Musina Intermodal Terminal (MIT), the Tzaneen siding, the Bela Bela siding and a new dedicated rail service at City Deep which will be launched in October this year.
The MIT, launched in July this year, will provide access to producers from Zimbabwe and the Limpopo River.
Brooke noted that fruit would be able to be transported to City Deep for packing into containers and that plans were in place to have new reefer train sets assigned to the new facility early next year.
