ISSN 2412-7779
REGULARS
CONTENTS
INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
VOL. 03 - NO. 04 | MARCH / APRIL 2018
REGULARS PROJECTS FEATURES
3 Editor’s column 9 39 Retail must adapt to cope with the water crisis
4 Word search 45 Orange River table grape area – rich in history
37 Letters to the editor
Resilience among Orange River table grape growers
EVENTS AND EXHIBITIONS
48 Products
17 WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017: My once-in-a-lifetime
experience
NEWS 24 Waste not, want not – the reality of the water crisis
4 In memory of John Kidd 27 2018 World Cold Chain Summit takes to Vietnam
5 In memory of Gerhard Wilhelm (Geep) Brouwer 29 First TOC Africa a success – all about port
7 Hydrocarbons training for commercial environment 33 ASHRAE short courses at FRIGAIR
7 Beijer Ref buys its third SA wholesaler, TecsaReco 35 HCFC stakeholders struggle to action decisions
EDITOR’S COLUMN
Avoiding the crisis
F
uel crisis, energy crisis, and now a
water crisis. Will the next crisis be a
food crisis? Remember the days
when the purchase of petrol and diesel
was restricted because of a shortage?
Pumps at filling stations were closed
from 18:00 until 06:00 on weekdays and
from 13:00 on a Saturday to 06:00 on
the Monday. It taught South Africans to
rethink the use of fuel and the amount
of travelling needed to maintain the
tempo of the economy and personal
lifestyles.
IS IT A CRISIS?
Next came the energy crisis. Load-
shedding and blackouts. The rush to
install standby generators and change
to alternative sources of energy. Traffic
congestions are choking and impacting
on productivity in a number of our
cities and public transport has virtually
collapsed. The water crisis is now upon
us and there is a hype of activity to
prevent Cape Town from being the first
city in the world to have its taps run dry.
Can these events be called a ‘crisis’
when they have been looming on
the horizon for years and predicted
by many? Admittedly, rainfall is
unpredictable, but when it does come,
do we have proper and sufficient
storage capacity? Has the storage
capacity kept pace with the rapid
pace of migration of people to the
cities and towns, all wanting to drink
from the same repository? The present
crisis has also changed the attitude
towards repairing leaks. Maybe if the
present structures in the City of Cape
Town to repair both leaks and burst
water pipes had been in place two
years ago, Day Zero, when the taps
are set to run dry, would possibly have
been extended by at least six months,
or never happen.
Farmers are responding to the long-
predicted impacts of global warming
and the resultant climate change. New
farming techniques are being applied
and crops are being produced with less
water and fertiliser.
The next crisis that is looming, is that
of a shortage of food. Throughout the
world, millions of people go hungry and
thousands die of starvation. In many
circles, it is thought that the shortage
of food is restricted to developing
countries or areas of civil unrest. In
the not too distant future, large cities,
including those in South Africa —
Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban,
and the like — will face a shortage
of essential foodstuffs — and it will be
called a food crisis. This can be avoided
if we start reducing food wastage
and adopting different lifestyles. Many
hungry people could be fed from
the present excessive level of food
wastage. Less wastage will also place
less demands on our natural resources.
Let us all start today in business, our
homes, food processing plants, and
retail outlets (among others) to reduce
food wastage. Let us all play a part to
prevent the next crisis.
SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
Skills training is undergoing changes,
aimed at a better quality of training
to avoid a skills shortage in the future.
Both the training programme and
trade test format for artisans are
being reviewed. Further explanatory
notes for compliance with the
Pressure Equipment Regulations were
published in November 2017, and the
categories of registration by South
African Qualification and Certification
Committee for Gas (SAQCC Gas) have
been reviewed.
All these changes should have a
positive effect to avoid a skills shortage.
LOSS OF EXPERTISE
Seldom does a month pass by that
we do not receive the unfortunate
news that a member of our industry has
passed away. With their passing, so does
a wealth of experience. The reports of
new skilled entrants or even promotions
are at a noticeable low level.
The much talked about acquisition
of TecsaReco by the Beijer Group has
been finalised and it will be interesting
to see how this plays out in the South
African marketplace.
Business confidence in our market
ranges from fair to lukewarm, or non-
committal. Many developers in the
property sector, processing plants,
mining, and even retail have adopted
a ‘wait and see how the political scene
develops’ approach. Economi sts have
also expressed concern about the far-
reaching impact of the severe drought
in the Cape on the national economy.
Positive initiatives are still to be found
in our industry. The dedicated support
and nearly all space sold at the FRIGAIR
Exhibition, to be held at Gallagher Estate,
Johannesburg, from 6 to 8 June 2018, bears
testimony to a positive outlook.
Sadly, the quality of service delivery in
retail outlets, restaurants, service stations,
and among equipment suppliers has
declined during the past quarter. Shoppers
often stand in long queues at the tills,
while the many supervisors, managers,
and ‘PR promoters’ watch while security
checks fumble or check-out staff have
lengthy discussions among themselves. In
restaurants, we often have to endure long
waiting periods for our meal or the clearing
of plates, and even the bill.
More than ever before are there
opportunities to excel in service delivery and
provide value for money. Those that have
risen to the demand are being handsomely
CLA
rewarded.
COLD LINK AFRICA • March | April 2018
John Ackermann
Editor | [email protected]
www.coldlinkafrica.co.za
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