Symington puts his faith in ‘Iron Lady’ Ramos

Infrastructure poses greatest challenge RAY SMUTS STUART SYMINGTON would not wish a deadly tsunami on any living being but relishes the thought of a giant tidal wave of export cargo hitting the South African ports - if only the infrastructure could cope. “The greatest challenge in the chain has been this tsunami of export products from all industries hitting our ports and then the infrastructural inability to deliver our produce to market on time,” says Symington, CEO of the Fresh Produce Exporters’ Forum. Looking back on the past Western Cape fruit season which yielded roughly 35% of all of South Africa’s export fruit volumes (valued at around R3 billion FOB), Symington asserts: “I think the tsunami of export products from SA should be even bigger than it already is but we need the authorities to open up our ports, improve productivity, charge market-related rates and upgrade infrastructure (more cranes, gantries, plug-in-points and straddle carriers). “The Transnet Group has allegedly prioritised the upgrading of SAA’s fleet and spent relatively little on much needed port equipment over the last few years,” says Symington. “But I hear the tide is turning, and I have great faith in the Iron Lady, Maria Ramos (CEO of Transnet), showing no signs of early metal fatigue in sorting it all out for us.” Symington says exports have become extremely difficult for producers whose returns diminish with the marching on of the strong rand - sitting at R5.90/dollar at the time of writing this article towards the end of February. The strong rand has resulted in the trimming of costs across the whole value chain. We have to continuously strive to become cost conscious on all fronts, the single biggest benefit being that our industry is now becoming very efficient on the cost front.