SACD gets the go-ahead for new Cape Town facility

RAY SMUTS SOME 12 months ago SACD Freight Cape Town entered into talks with the National Ports Authority, landlord of South Africa’s ports, about the lease of the 7.3ha ‘Old Power Station’ site adjacent to the port of Cape Town - and the news is all good. Impact studies on traffic flows, optimum layout, architectural drawings, contract terms and conditions have been finalised and capex approval obtained in principle by Bidvest, owner of SACD Freight. “We are very excited as the Cape Town import/export industry needs a ‘state of the art’ freight station and container park of this magnitude,” says marketing manager Johan Dobies. The 10 000m2 warehouse will be food grade and temperature-controlled for the benefit of the food and beverage industry. SACD Freight will, in addition to the new site, hold onto its current facility until the lease expires in 2011, thereby creating additional capacity for cargo handling and containers. With the company’s industry experience gained over the past 20 years, the main objective during planning of the site was to improve productivity for all suppliers and customers, says Dobies. The more important aspects addressed include truck loading/offloading, cargo collection/delivery and information flows. Part of the process prior to final municipal approval was to give neighbouring business an opportunity to comment on the proposed development, he added. Now that this has taken place, some objections revolving mainly around traffic issues have been tabled and are being addressed. Upon successful finalisation of these objections, building will begin and SACD Freight Cape Town is optimistic this will be in the near future.