PROJECT
INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
Continued from page 1
Resilience among Orange River
S
imilar to other sectors of the economy,
farming has to contend with an
unpredictable supply of natural
resources, changing weather patterns,
damage by hailstorms, and more stringent
food safety regulations.
In the Upington to Grootdrift area, the
harvest was at least 10 days later than
previous years and the level of water in the
Orange River much lower. Driving on the
road to Grootdrift, there was still evidence
of the damage done to the roads, fences,
vineyards, and hills by the flood that
ravaged the valley early in 2017. In a matter
of 30 minutes, 230mm of rain fell, resulting in
the loss of four lives.
The late harvest was also demonstrated
by the low traffic volumes of refrigerated
vehicles and containers compared to
previous years. Security has also become
more of a concern. Many properties
have electric fencing and razor wire for
protection. An overhead camera now
monitors traffic on the Grootdrift gravel road
to curb stock theft.
LIMITED CAPACITY FOR STERI
TREATMENT
Export table grapes from the Orange River
area are trucked to the Cape Town harbour
either in refrigerated articulated vehicles or
in ISO reefer containers on flat deck trailers
with diesel gensets to power the all-electric
refrigeration units. The choice of refrigerated
articulated vehicles or containers lies with
the pack house or exporter and depends on
the holding facility and infrastructure.
Loads in articulated road vehicles have
to be cross-docked in Cape Town into reefer
containers. Certain countries, like the US,
China, and Israel, require that the grapes
undergo sterilisation treatment (steri) for
a period of 72 hours before leaving South
Africa. Cape Town has a limited number of
cold stores approved for the steri treatment.
The availability of Department of Agriculture,
Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) staff to monitor
the steri treatment adds to the costly
bottlenecks that occur in Cape Town.
The Port Elizabeth Cold Store in Coega
is approved for steri treatment and often,
consignments destined for China are trucked
across to Coega (close to Port Elizabeth) to
avoid the bottlenecks in Cape Town.
Coega harbour also does not
experience the delays caused on occasion
in Cape Town due to strong winds. The
shipping time from Coega to China has a
further advantage of being shorter by at
least two days.
According to Louis Hanekom of Southern
Farms, only two sailings per week of vessels
from Cape Town to Europe are equipped
for reefer containers. To overcome the
shortage of shipping space in the peak
of the December season, a refrigerated
break bulk vessel was again chartered for
December 2017.
During the visit to many pack houses,
pallets were being stacked to a lower height
(some two carton rows less than for a hi-
cube container) and loaded into articulated
refrigerated vehicles to reach Cape Town
ahead of the sailing of the chartered
refrigerated break bulk vessel.
Pack houses also reported that as of
the 2017 season, the Perishable Products
Export Control Board (PPECB) has imposed
a requirement that the pulp temperature
of grapes, as measured on the thermo
couples, does not exceed 1.5°C.
“We have experienced some unusual
problems this season. All pallets checked
here have had a pulp temperature of 1.5°C
or lower, but when arriving in Cape Town,
four of the pallets in the vehicle are higher in
Cylinders of ethylene gas in preparation for the start of the de-greening season.
table grape growers
The lull before the heavy rush at the Augpad 2 pack house.
Jacque de Wet in the new holding area at the Augpad Cold Store.
The original Friga Systems packaged units are still in operation at Augpad Cold Store.
COLD LINK AFRICA • March | April 2018
www.coldlinkafrica.co.za
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