Cape Town Port: Hortgro co-funded project that saves industry millions

Last season, Agbiz ran a pilot project (Genset project) with Transnet to create additional temporary plug-point capacity at the Port of Cape Town. The project was funded via donations from FPEF, SATI, Hortgro, the KAL Group and the Western Cape Government. In total, the project cost R1.4 million, but we estimate that it saved the industry in excess of R3 million. This was calculated based on the utilisation rate and the number of additional reefer containers that could be received and plugged in that would otherwise have been diverted during weather disruptions.
This season, all indications point towards more weather-related disruptions during the peak season from December to March.

As such, the industry will repeat its efforts to minimise losses. Whilst the same funding partners have committed, we are facing a potential shortfall and will therefore reach out to value-chain partners for any support that they can offer. So far, KAL group and Santam have come on board to support the project this year, but any additional contributions will be greatly appreciated. In the coming years, we expect the reform process at Transnet to be such that we can submit proposals to institutionalise this concept on a cost-recovery basis.
A video compilation of the previous season’s pilot can be viewed by following this link.

• Information compiled from Agbiz newsletter.