CONTRIBUTORS
INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
Food supply chain not in lockdown
By John Ackerman
Covid 19 has impacted on every sector of the global economy and living lifestyles. Lockdown has
become the norm in many countries and South Africa has not been the exception and, at the time of
writing, had gone from total lockdown of level 5 to partial of level 3.
Cold stores have remained operational in order to load and unload refrigerated vehicles
and ISO marine containers with fruit and other temperature-sensitive perishables.
What has not gone into lockdown
has been retail outlets of
foodstuffs, dairy products, meat,
fish, fruit and vegetables. Production and
processing plants of these foodstuffs have
had to remain operational.
Cows have not stopped producing milk,
fruit and vegetables have needed to be
harvested and distributed to consumers
and foreign markets. The risk of being
infected by the virus has created a greater
need for healthy diets to boost immune
systems.
Without the convenience of fast foods
and dining out, every household has had
to revert to home cooking and for safety
reasons, and limit visits to supermarkets and
food retail outlets.
The supply of frozen and fresh
perishables, dairy products, meat, fish,
poultry, have all relied on refrigeration
plants and the cold distribution chain to
remain operational 24/7. Refrigerated
service companies have needed to
respond to failures of plants and do
regular maintenance, while taking every
precaution to avoid being infected by
Covid 19.
The challenges have been extreme on
many fronts; physical safety of staff, financial
sustainability, cash flow and compliance
with national regulations. With a slowdown
in the national economy and a lock down
of the construction industry, many new
installations have been suspended and
those planned have been put on hold.
Staff normally active on new installations,
have had to take cuts in salaries, some
retrenched and others dependent on
some relief from payments from the
Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).
In general, most companies in the
refrigeration sector have reported a decline
of 50 to 60% in turnover on a year on year
basis. Forecasts for annual returns for 2020
have been reduced by as much as 40%.
Innovation and adoption have been
the order of the day to maintain service
All photos by John Ackerman
levels. Management, accounting staff,
service controllers, design engineers and
even service supervisors, have resorted to
working from home.
“With a software package, On Line
Easy Contracting, service technicians
are able to submit time sheets and
job reports without having to visit the
workshop. With this info, supervisors and
admin staff have been able to compile
invoices. Buyers have procured material
for service technicians to collect from
suppliers and material directly from
wholesalers and suppliers. All these
functions done while working from home.
Most of our technicians we have not
seen for months and yet all call outs to
failures and servicing of our clients’ plant
have been timeously attended to and
all the associated administration done.
Management, accounts and admin staff
have been able to fulfil all the functions
and without any of wasted time in
travelling to and from the office in heavy
traffic and the cost of fuel,” says Richard
Drinkrow of Mainstream Refrigeration.
Interprovincial travel to job sites is now
done mostly by road, whereas before this
would have been done by air travel. During
lock down level 5, this was the only option
and although at level 3, domestic flights
are possible, many journeys are still done
by road due to health safety risks. Business
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www.coldlinkafrica.co.za COLD LINK AFRICA • September 2020