The go-slow at South Africa’s ports has dealt the citrus export industry its biggest blow in 25 years, according to Hannes de Waal, CEO of the Sundays River Citrus Company. Speaking to FTW after capacity issues, backlogs and throughput had been addressed to some extent, he said in their area alone, up to Patensie south-west of Nelson Mandela Bay, “there are roughly 2000-3000 boxes of fruit that should have been shipped by now. “When they finally arrive in the markets they are destined for it’s going to be two to three weeks late and it will result in claims. “In the 25-odd years that I have been in this industry the quantum of the impact of what is happening at the moment is unlike anything I have ever seen. We have to consider though that it’s going to take two to three months for this to play out. “Fruit first has to arrive at markets and delayed delivery costs must be factored into shelf prices before we will know exactly what this strike is costing us.” Admittedly, volumes processed through ports like Ngqura had substantially improved, De Waal said. “But we are sitting with the extra logistical expense of having to ship crates to Cape Town and Durban.” The bigger issue, he explained, was twofold. “First of all, it’s playing havoc with our schedules. On a weekly basis our organisation has to report to leading retailers across the world what the delivery schedules are but the strike and the subsequent backlog of delayed shipments has completely ruined the schedules.” Second of all, De Waal stressed, it had a massive ripple effect on the supply chain. He said once freight flows were restored you suddenly found that fruit was oversupplied in an attempt to make up for time lost, leading to a separate set of issues. “Let’s just say that it’s an absolute nightmare!” And as for being fair to the relevant authorities for the inroads that have been made to resolve the strike, which is ongoing but diminished and that has resulted in 13 suspensions of crucial operational employees, De Waal was forthright in his condemnation of Transnet Port Terminals (TPT). “You can’t just turn around and blame it on trouble-makers within your organisation. I used to work at the container terminals in Durban and noticed with alarm the changes that were made to the incentive bonus system. “You simply can’t treat people like that. If our management treated its employees similarly they would most likely also go on strike.” He also hit out at the lacklustre approach to asset maintenance and upkeep and the foot-dragging from on high when it came to waking up to the gravity of the situation. De Waal said on a recent visit to the container piers in Durban he had seen for himself how poorly maintained the assets seemed and how dirty it was. De Waal said it was only once they got Agbiz involved and started ventilating their frustration in the right circles of power that throughput issues at the ports of Ngqura, Durban and Cape Town seemed to improve. “The fact of the matter is we have issues year on year. Last year it was a union that came into our area and intimidated our labourers into going on strike. Also, we are far from European markets, have to contend with closer exporting countries like Egypt and Spain, and are responsible for maintaining standards to secure the high-quality organic and chemical-free fruit we export. “But unless the government does something about TPT, which in my view is simply not doing its job, South Africa’s citrus industry could become unfeasible.” Unless the government does something about TPT, the citrus industry could become unfeasible.
