Swing to containers powers up demand for gensets

Minimal handling ensures an unbroken cold chain THE MARKET in containerised perishable exports is likely to grow by 30% in the next year, according to market estimates released to Dave Pretorius, MD of Generator and Plant Hire (GPH), by contacts in the shipping industry. Much of this is expected to come from the swing from the traditional refrigerated (reefer) breakbulk vessels to reefer container ships, he told FTW, putting his company into a growth phase – supplying generator sets (gensets) to the perishable freight industry for powering up reefer containers. At any one time it currently has anything up to 100 reefer gensets out on hire, both those Pretorius describes as “undersling” generators – attached to the trailer carrying the refrigerated container – and direct clip-on models. These are sourced in Canada, Holland and Ireland, cost more than R100 000 each, and are robust enough to even survive the tough conditions of over-border road transport into the African continent. “In the global ‘cold chain’, maintaining consistent temperature control can be a logistical nightmare,” said Pretorius. “So our equipment has to be both high-quality and serviceable. “Our business is to ensure that our generators maintain a constant temperature in reefers, with no fluctuation. We deal mostly with shipping companies with contracted transport of citrus, grapes, tropical fruit; vegetables and flowers, fish and meat – and each of these has to be transported at a specific temperature.” At the top end of its range, Generator and Plant Hire also leases 500-kVa generators to SA Port Operations (Sapo) for reefer terminals at the ports – each unit able to power-up 50 reefer container plug points. Since 1990, the main hire business for GPH was in the construction and mining industries, farming and other niche markets. But in the past six years the demand in the perishable freight industry has accelerated rapidly, as the reefer cold chain principle has continued to assert itself. Traditionally, according to GPH operations director Tony Muller, the international transport of perishables, like fruit and vegetables, entailed a number of handling processes – each with a different temperature break. But the modern method involves minimal handling, Muller added, with no breaks in the cold chain from source to destination.