ASSOCIATIONS | |
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Cold stores in SA hard at work maintaining a strong cold chain |
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CGA collaboration delivers tonnes of produce to those in need |
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SATI releases 2nd crop estimate for 2020 / 2021 |
Although the cold chain has always remained an essential service to deliver food , medicine and other perishable products – which means it has never come to a halt – many projects were put on the backburner in 2020 and some were cancelled . Increasing feedback from the industry
is now indicating that projects are coming
back online with some companies
reporting year-starts in terms of orders
bypassing years gone by . Hopefully
soon , all the contracts that have been
hanging in the air will proceed as originally
planned . After all , we have been promised
a lot in terms of infrastructure and this
means we are able to expand and
enhance our cold chain . Not to mention
that infrastructure spend trickles over time
through to the SMEs that , in fact , power
the economy .
At the time of writing , we are exiting the
second local wave of the pandemic with a
much harsher punishment in the form of the
dubbed ‘ Covid-19 variant 501Y . V2 ’. But the
lifting of the latest alcohol ban now allows
the alcohol industry to once again trade ,
and hopefully the wine industry to receive
the much-needed reprieve as it was close
to critical point as harvests have come in
while still sitting with older stock to handle .
Export totals from the South African
wine sector showed growth in 2020 . What
the 2021 figures will look like , no one can
currently tell , but we can always remain
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optimistic . Citrus has shown growth through the latest tree census , and table grapes have also shown good estimates for the year-to-date for export .
The latest topic in South Africa is naturally the vaccine rollout . The AstraZeneca vaccine from Oxford University , received in February , required no upgrade or amendment to the cold chain . But , as the rollout unfolds and we are to receive vaccines that require ultra-cold storage (-70 ° C ), we already know that we don ’ t have the cold chain to support this – what the plan is , is yet to be established as our requests to the Department of Health to-date have still gone unanswered .
So , the next logical question raised is achieving the ‘ herd immunity ’ the President has included in the rollout strategy . While no South African will be forced to accept the vaccine , an interesting point is raised by legal firm ENSafrica , namely the employer ’ s obligation to ensure a safe and healthy environment for all employees . This means , if some employees refuse the vaccine , this could lead to potential risk to fellow employees , resulting in further labour issues for the country .
In this issue we look at our regular local and international news where the global coronavirus pandemic ( and mutations ) continue to dominate in most sectors , as well as data reports and statistics in delivery , efficacy and overall case
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reductions . We also carry some updates from various industry associations .
We take a look at an apt topic through cold store construction in our feature – an area where there is expected to be massive growth in the country in both the formal and informal sectors as we contribute to curb the global statistics running into the billions of tons in food waste per year . Our project is the latest addition to the Maersk network arm – and Africa ’ s largest transcritical CO 2 system that will run as Precool Cold Storage . This is also a test site for further expansion of their strategy throughout the country .
Our contributors cover aspects from IOT and future AI augmentation in process systems , post-harvest essentials in carton box packaging for various fruits and vegetables and trends in the materials handling world , and new traceability legislation being developed in the US .
As always , your thoughts are important and welcome , and I further encourage you to engage with me through whichever method suits you ( telephone , email , SMS , WhatsApp , or invite me for a face-to-face coffee � ).
For this month ’ s quote , I leave you with something more important than ever in the competitive landscape of success over failure …
“ Quality means doing it right when no one is looking .” - Henry Ford . CLA
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Ben
Please contact me via any of the following channels : Email : benjamin @ interactmedia . co . za Office : + 27 11 579 4940 Cell : + 27 82 940 0701 ( Call / Text / WhatsApp )
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