Scale has been singled out as one of the biggest obstacles to the increased uptake of rail freight in the citrus industry.
“Medium and small farmers do not have the scale to move from road to rail,” said Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) strategic knowledge executive manager, Elvin Harris, when he addressed the Transport Forum’s ‘Rail Day’ event at the University of Johannesburg last week. “A big part of the solution is for TFR to figure out how to have the right cold storage hubs in the right places, and certainly in the northern part of the region,” he said.
Harris added that TFR was currently working with the Department of Trade and Industry on two special economic zone (SEZ) developments in the northern regions with a view to using those SEZs to create consolidation hubs for medium and small citrus farmers. He said that even large producers would be able benefit from these hubs but added that this would be a long-term project.
Additionally, Harris pointed out that TFR was currently finalising a national fruit transport strategy. “A lot of it is about investment in refrigerated containers in rail,” he said. “But if we do get that right, the citrus industry in the next ten years could be one of Transnet’s top five industrybased customer segments.
“It’s a huge market for us, we are not blind to it.” Citrus Growers’ Association (CGA) logistics development manager, Mitchell Brooke, told FTW that the issues highlighted by TFR in the presentation were only a small part of the issue. However, he said that the CGA was not looking to enter into a media debate with the rail operator and would respond to these statements during a strategy session with TFR planned for November 13.
Brooke recently expressed his disappointment at the slow move from road to rail in the citrus industry and said that currently there was very little confidence in rail by the sector.
Despite this, he said that the CGA had provided TFR with data, analyses and strategic plans showing that 10 000 containers could successfully be moved by rail from the northern regions alone if only the state-owned rail operator would seize the opportunity.
A big part of the solution is for TFR to figure out how to have the right cold storage hubs in the right places. – Elvin Harris
