FEATURE
INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
Transfrig
Holcroft adds, “Having imported products
in South Africa raises local standards
by default. We are already competing
against some of the best products
available internationally and as local
manufacturers we offer the advantage
of improved prices and turnaround time,
with similar features and performance.
However, everyone knows that supporting
local manufacturers is important to
create growth in an economy – it’s
essentially easy enough to let equipment
be made overseas and then import
them here, but as you see in other
world-leading countries, they use local
manufacturing to promote growth and
also encourage global players to set up
local manufacturing plants to support the
local jobs.”
INDUSTRY STANDARDS AND
SABS’S TEST CHAMBER
Collectively the role-players believe that
industry needs to have a standard that is
actually achievable and that is policed.
The silent nitrogen unit on and electric truck in France.
Overall, the age-old mindset needs to
change to understand that cheap isn’t
necessarily the best solution. Generally
speaking, the food producer or even a
fleet operator has very little knowledge of
the thermal cycle and required controls.
Similarly, the foam supplier or truck body
builders have no idea of food processing.
All these elements need to be brought
together to sing from the same hymn sheet.
“The biggest issue for the industry is that
testing is voluntary. SABS testing is expensive
and the fleet operators are not prepared
to pay the extra fees and then rather make
use of the ‘fly-by-nights’ to build a cheap
body and in effect drive prices so low
that the reputable companies don’t have
sufficient resources to carry out their own
R&D on improved technology. I also feel a
SARDA type association needs to be reborn
and get industry to work together from
the supplier to the retailer or outlet,” says
Gildenhuys.
“The concept of the SABS test
chamber was good as it was intended to
Serco
A light-weight 1-tonner vehicle.
uplift standards. Many of the reputable
industry stakeholders are committed to it
but no one has followed through because
it’s just too expensive and therefore
it’s just not cost-effective for the body
builders to make use of. It can work, it
must work and we need to find a way to
make it work for the industry – we believe
all it requires is the correct management
and perhaps this best sits with a private
institution,” adds Solomon.
“Unfortunately for the sector there are
no real regulations and the test chamber
that SABS introduced was a way to provide
a yard stick to ensure that an insulated
body is in fact a proper insulated body.
The market has been quite price-sensitive
and the cost of the test is expensive even
compared to international rates. The
difference between South Africa and
Europe is that in Europe it’s legislated that
your vehicle to transport perishable goods
must have a test certificate, but here there
is no such requirement, so being a voluntary
process is a hinderance. Because of the
lack of standards and enforcement you
create a market where one considers why
a company would spend the money on
environmentally-friendly products that are
better for food, hygiene and the general
cold chain management. The current
‘white elephant’ could easily be converted
into a useful tool that the industry actually
needs because the cold chain and food
safety is a serious topic. Implementing
formal certification for the transport of
perishable goods could potentially raise
local standards,” says Holcroft.
A changing factor would be the
insurance industry participating in standard
upliftment by requiring certain certification
to be in place for transport, retailers and
fleet managers. This would manage the
complaints where the product arrives at
18 degrees when it is supposed to be 8
degrees. CLA
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www.coldlinkafrica.co.za COLD LINK AFRICA • October 2020