Bracken Refrigeration Services( BRS) has successfully completed a significant in-house agricultural facility project, DCS-ZIRE which is part of the Subtropico Group – a fresh produce centre with cold rooms, ripening rooms and a fully functional distribution centre in north Pretoria. The project involved the design and installation of a sophisticated ethyleneripening and Farmwise packing facility within the same building – primarily for bananas, but also a wide variety of produce including apples, oranges and avocados.
The project, spearheaded by Bracken Refrigeration Services project manager Morné Seymore, commenced with an initial requirement for 23 ripening rooms in mid-March 2020 and reached completion within approximately five months, despite
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challenges posed by the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. This included brief work stoppages due to both material shortages and COVID-19 related compliance requirements, however the project progressed steadily from its March 2020 start to its conclusion in August / September of the same year, including a final month to address minor snags.
Following the successful completion of
the initial phase in 2020, this collaboration
between Bracken Refrigeration and DCS-
ZIRE Subtropico continued into a second
phase in 2022, followed by this current
third phase.
Seymore explains that the project was
specifically initiated to create a dedicated
environment for ripening a substantial
quantity of bananas. " The core focus was
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to efficiently ripen the bananas. However, the scope of the project expanded over time to encompass a packing area within the same building, streamlining the postharvest process. The facility also includes a specialised holding area equipped with a cooling system designed to bring the produce down to precise temperatures before being moved via a conveyor system for further processing.”
Another significant obstacle was the sourcing of copper fittings. Faced with supplier issues, the BRS team had to adapt by themselves, designing and fabricating T-fittings for the copper pipes directly on-site. This resourceful solution not only kept the project on track but also deeply impressed the client, with the custom fittings reportedly still in perfect working order.
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PURPOSE-BUILT INNOVATION
Subtropico ' s decision to establish a stateof-the-art banana ripening facility stemmed directly from the significant challenges faced by banana producers in South African produce markets. Traditional, often publicly-owned, ripening facilities proved inadequate due to their inefficiency and poorly maintained water-chilled plant systems. This resulted in substantial losses and frequent insurance claims for Subtropico, which handles a high volume of bananas nationwide. Prompted by these limitations, Subtropico ' s management opted to build brand-new, purpose-built ripening infrastructure.
The design for this facility was precisely tailored to DCS-ZIRE Subtropico ' s requirements for efficient banana ripening, based on the volume of bananas needing to be processed within a specific timeframe.
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