A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. The same applies to the cold chain.According to Vijan Chetty, director of the Board for the Cool Chain Association (CCA) and general manager: coastal for the Perishable Products Export Control Board (PPECB), reducing delays in the supply chain is critical to ensuring its integrity. Speaking to Freight News, Chetty said incidents such as the recent f loods in Durban and the unrest seen in the country over the past year could have a severe impact on the cold chain. “Even a delay of only a day or two can impact the entire logistical chain. It also comes with a real consequence for cold stores that are dependent on product moving efficiently.”With most of the country’s major cold stores located in and around the ports in Durban and Cape Town, the clogging of these arteries has a knock-on effect. “Cold stores are unable to intake products if they have queues of trucks outside. In Durban, we have had record grain exports and there is a hub of activity in and around the port.”He highlighted f luidity and as few delays as possible as being the two factors critical to ensuring a smooth supply chain moving these types of cargo.According to Craig Dorf ling of Federated Meats, which import mostly 40-foot reefers of frozen protein and supply mostly in bulk loads, the riots in Durban last year had a massive impact on cold storage capacity. “We had a real loss of capacity, and that was followed by the f looding in April which only exacerbated the situation.”Many industry stakeholders concurred that the move by the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development not to allow products to be delivered by road into commercial cold stores in Gauteng – in order to be vet-cleared there instead of in Durban – did not help the situation.A concession was given for rail, but few importers or exporters have been willing to put their reefers on rail.The risks to the cold chain are real, Dorf ling told Freight News. “The road blockages that we are seeing at present is concerning, as is the breakdown of infrastructure across the country.”Chetty said another challenge for the cold chain was that the country had insufficient cold rooms approved for cold treatment.“It is not that we don’t have enough cold stores, although there is pressure on capacity during the peak fruit season – particularly the citrus season, when we can’t move the volumes quickly enough out of the facilities,” he explained. “However, we need to approve more cold stores for cold treatment.”More and more countries, particularly in Asia – a growing market for South African produce – are demanding cold treatment of the product. Countries like Japan, South Korea and the US all require some form of cold treatment before the product arrives on their shores. The amount of pre-cooling that is required is dependent on each country. This means the product has to be kept in a cold store for a certain period (usually anything from 24 to 72 hours) at a certain temperature, which is usually around zero or less, before being moved into containers and shipped. The cargo is monitored throughout the journey and must be kept at specific temperatures throughout.
