My first attempt at this was to join up with Dennis Hayes of the Industrial Digest, with whom I had previously had contact with as an advertiser. Together, we launched the Cold Chain newspaper in September 1986. A year later, Dennis and I decided to part ways and the first Cold Link newspaper was published in September 1987.

With my involvement in the industry since 1970, I had managed to build up a wide network of contacts. This proved invaluable in developing the circulation of The Cold Link— in addition to the support from many of the readers and industry role players.

The first edition went out to 2 800 people and had 10 pages of content. In those days, we needed litho-positives and colour printing was rather expensive so I stuck to black and white mostly. I hastily had to learn the practicalities of printing. It was exceedingly difficult, because you used to do the layout in galley and to change something was time consuming. The process was not as straightforward as it is today.

The distribution was also tedious. Many of the copies for posting was hand folded by myself. I would get some students in to help fold the copies, print the labels, and send for postage. This was all done in-house for quite a number of years.

The response from the industry was very encouraging in the form of advertising and participation, and I received many heartening letters.

THE BIRTH OF SARDA

Through the readership, it became evident that the industry needed some form of coordination between all the role players in the cold chain. The idea of a refrigerated transport association was suggested and we held an interest meeting at the President Hotel in February 1990. We had a good attendance from across the country, with more than 200 people supporting the concept of bringing together the local cold chain industry.

This gave birth to the South African Refrigeration Distribution Association( SARDA), which was formed to cover not only refrigerated transport but all role players in the logistics chain. The first SARDA annual meeting was held at the Holiday Inn Hotel at the then- Jan Smuts Airport in June 1990. SARDA had a national council with centres in Johannesburg, Durban, and Cape Town, and I was honoured as the founding president.

A GLOBAL NETWORK

The Cold Link created a platform for networking with global industry associations, which I met through visiting exhibitions elsewhere in the world. Also, associations visiting South Africa would make contact to gain access to the market. As the publication grew, more contacts were made with the publication by overseas companies and associations to gain access to my network of readers.

The Cold Link served as the mouthpiece of SARDA and with that, we developed a working relationship with the International Association of Refrigerated Warehouses( IARW). In association with IARW, we jointly presented three courses in cold store management, starting off in Cape Town at Stellenbosch University. From there we moved to Durban and

then to Johannesburg, with a two-year period in-between.

We also built up good contacts with the International Institute of Ammonia Refrigeration( IIAR) and eurammon. We have had visits from these associations to South Africa— all through the networking of The Cold Link.

Our readership has always been widespread— we even have readers in the most remote places, like Estonia.

Highlights over the years include sponsored visits to exhibitions in Thailand, Germany, and France. Not to mention the motor shows in Hannover, Paris, and Birmingham and the many visits to the annual IIAR convention in the US. Each time building up more contacts and expanding the network.

REFRIGERATION EXHIBITION

Another concept that emanated from the magazine was that South Africa could certainly support a standalone refrigeration exhibition, which had not been done before. I stuck my neck out and ventured into the organising of an exhibition. And so the first Cooling Expo was held in September 1992 at the Goodwood Showgrounds in Cape Town. Exhibitors came from all over the world and to everyone’ s surprise, the show boasted 2 070m 2 of exhibition space with 2 882 visitors. It was a challenge, though, as there was political unrest in the country at the time: the Boipatong massacre had just taken place. We were considered a‘ violent country’— but people still came.

It was also decided to have a FRIGAIR conference alongside the Cooling Expo in 1992. SARDA joined forces with the South African Institute of Refrigeration and Air Conditioning( SAIRAC) to hold the first FRIGAIR conference outside Pretoria. For the first time, FRIGAIR actually also generated an income. The profit was

shared between SAIRAC and SARDA and used for their educational programmes.

The exhibition hall wasn’ t the best. I remember some of the challenges: people were complaining that during the night, the birds had covered their leaflets with droppings, and then, one night, it rained and all the leaflets were wet. But we had a great time and people who had been sceptical about the event were overwhelmed with the orders they took at the show. The rest is history. Since then we have had similar exhibitions.

FAIR AND UNBIASED COVERAGE

One aspect that has contributed to the growth and expansion of The Cold Link was building a reputation of being unbiased to all parties in the industry. We provided fair coverage to industry events, whether people were advertisers or not. Readers have often been eager to have us participate in events, with the hope of receiving coverage.

The Cold Link became more like a family newspaper; in fact, people felt as if they were part of the newspaper. Many of our readers have passed on during the years and we have always tried to inform the industry of that.

The paper has also been used as a reference library, with people often referring to our articles.

CHANGES OVER THE YEARS

Several changes have taken place in the industry. For the refrigerated transport industry, one of the biggest impacts was when it became deregulated and the permit system fell away. This meant that the market was now open. The legal limit of the vehicle has changed on numerous occasions, allowing bigger vehicles and payload space and each time bringing a new generation of vehicles— all to maximise pay volumes. When I started,