Deregulation sees more fruit moving through PE

A FRUITFUL future for Port Elizabeth.
That's a feeling shared by fruit growers and exporters, facility providers, shipping operations and the harbour authorities.
Some 23% of deciduous fruit exports come from the Eastern Cape (although a lot was shipped through Cape Town until recently), said Ian Barclay, regional executive manager of Saflink in PE. There is also a very big citrus potential here.
Deregulation of the fruit export industry has also changed the face of the market in PE. The previous Outspan/ Unifruco (now Capespan) throttle-hold on exports is now fragmenting as numbers of growers/exporters test out the market on their own.
And Capespan's previous habit of routing a lot of Eastern Cape fruit exports - where most convenient in its distribution scheduling - through Cape Town and Durban, is now changing into a greater focus on PE as the port of exit, according to Buks van Rooyen, branch manager of fruit forwarding specialists, CCS Logistics (formerly Co-operative Shipping).
In the deregulated market, he said, the port of PE is seen to be the cheaper and quicker route out.
CSS did about 18 000 pallets for independents last year - or about one-and-a quarter million cartons - all on reefer ships. This year, Van Rooyen told FTW, I reckon it could be about 1.5-m to 2-m cartons.
The through-the-port statistics also show expectation of greater things to come.
In reefer containers, the growth rate in citrus for the Portnet year of 1998/99 (the financial year) is expected to be 61.2% up on the 22 720 tons of 1997/98. For deciduous - at a 98/99 latest estimate of 22 174t - this export crop will grow by 36% this year. In TEUs (twenty foot equivalent units) that's
1 615 boxes of citrus expected to go out this year, compared to 985 in 97/98 (an increase of 61.2%). For deciduous, it will be 1 027 TEUs compared to 775 last year (+36%).
Looking ahead, according to the budget released to FTW by Lee Farnham, marketing consultant at Portnet, the tonnage growth in citrus will increase by 57.5% to a total of 57 665t in 1999/00. In TEUs the increase is 54.8% to a total of 2 500.
For deciduous, the tonnage is expected to rise by 42.3% to 31 546t, and TEUs by 46% to 1 500 units.
But that's less than a quarter of the fruit exports flowing through PE.
In bulk and breakbulk modes the total tonnage of citrus and deciduous is expected to be 359 324t in 98/99 - actually down by 1.8% on last year's 365 747.
But next year, Portnet is budgeting for a 9.5% increase in citrus exports, to 335 000t compared to 306 027t this year; and for an 8.8% increase in deciduous exports from 53 297 expected this year, compared to 58 000t for 1999/00.
That's an overall tonnage increase in bulk mode of 9.4% to a 1999/00 total of 393 000t compared to this year's latest expectations for 359 324t.
The total (both bulk and reefer container) is expected to be 392 665t of citrus next year, compared to 342 651t this year (+14.6%). In deciduous, the figures read 89 546t in 99/00 compared to 59 500t for 98/99 (+50.1%).
The gross total (both fruit categories and both sea modes) is estimated at 482 211t for 99/00, compared to the
402 151t for 98/99 (+19.9%)