NEWS
INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
Global Cold Chain Alliance
sets foot in Africa
By John Ackermann
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Attendance at 2005 IARW
Conference in the US.
Three-day workshop on “Successful
Management of Refrigerated
Warehouses” – held at The Bay Hotel,
Camps Bay (October 2002).
GCCA Cold Chain Summit – held
at the Westin Hotel, Cape Town
(October 2015).
Study tours to South Africa and sector
surveys.
Two participants in the international
GCCA Awards for young (under 35
years) cold store operations staff: Ivan
Sutic of Chilleweni (2016) and Francois
Smith of Sequence Logistics (2017).
Global Cold Storage Capacity
Survey.
MOVING INTO AFRICA
SARDA was founded in June 1990 to
promote excellence in the distribution
of temperature controlled products in
Southern Africa. Since 1990, the population
of Africa has passed the one billion
mark, the demographics of Southern
Africa have been redefined and natural
resources of water and available land
now barely cope with the demand for
food to feed the many nations across the
continent. Food supply and security are
no longer dependent on a single country
or continent, but rather on a global supply
chain linking growers, producers and
distributions across continents and borders.
The GCCA, along with its core partners:
IARW, World Food Logistics Organisation
(WFLO); International Association for
Cold Storage Construction (IACSC); and
International Refrigerated Transportation
Ivan Sutic (centre) welcomed the group from Angola and Ghana when they visited the
Chilleweni Cold Store in Johannesburg. Lizelle van der Berg (second from left) accompanied
the group and was also joined by Alice McKinnon of the GCCA headquarters in Washington.
Association (IRAT) has developed strong
partnerships in more than 80 countries
outside the US to establish sustainable
food supply chains with mutual benefits for
all role players.
Similar to partnership with members in
other countries such as Brazil, India, and
Australia, the GCCA has for decades
aimed to establish a permanent presence
in the SADC region.
After years of collaboration and many
visits to South Africa, the GCCA has
now appointed Lizelle van der Berg as
their permanent representative in South
Africa. The appointment of Van der Berg,
with her base in Cape Town, will certainly
cement the relationship between
the GCCA, cold chain role players in
Southern Africa, and with SARDA.
Within days of her appointment, Van
der Berg was host to a study group of four
cold chain role players from Angola and
one from Ghana. During the six-day visit,
the group visited cold store operations
in Johannesburg and Cape Town,
refrigeration service companies and
logistics operators to forge partnerships
and networks.
SARDA and Cold Link Africa welcome
the appointment of Van der Berg and
are confident of developing a strong
partnership. CLA
fter years of collaboration and
many visits to South Africa, in
particular by Richard Tracy, the
Global Cold Chain Alliance (GCCA) has
taken the positive step of appointing
Lizelle van der Berg as its permanent
representative in South Africa.
In May 1990, a group of International
Association of Refrigerated Warehouses
(IARW) members and their partners
visited Cape Town after attending an
international meeting in Florida, USA.
The visit to Cape Town was organised by
Gert Woolfson of Paarden Eiland Cold
Store and chairman of the South African
Association of Cold Stores.
During the visit, the group went on a
tug ride in Table Bay Harbour, visited the
V&A tourist centre with a model of how
the harbour would be developed into
the now Waterfront, watched port hole
containers being stacked in the Blue
Store, met with Kent Durr (the Minister of
Trade and Industry), and were treated
to a South African braai done by staff of
SAR&H. There were 14 couples and four
singles in the American group led by Bill
Hudson, who was at that time president
of IARW and a director of the US-based
Refrigeration Research Foundation.
The visit of May 1990 marked the start
of a long co-operation between the
Southern African Refrigerated Distribution
Association (SARDA) and the IARW. Joint
initiatives have included:
• Three-day training courses on
“Cold Store Operations” – held at
Stellenbosch University (2007); Blue
Waters Hotel in Durban (2008); and
OTTC College in Springs (2009).
The first GCCA/ SARDA short course (three days) on “Cold Store Operations” was held at the University of
Stellenbosch in February 2007 in partnership with Prof Louw Hoffman.
Richard Tracy (left) of GCCA with Michael Schuster (GIZ) at the Cold
Chain Summit held from 15-17 October 2015 in Cape Town.
COLD LINK AFRICA • July/August 2019
www.coldlinkafrica.co.za
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