March 1, 2004

By Edward West

Cape Town - Commercial Cold Storage (CCS), a subsidiary of Oceana Group, has entered into a partnership with SA Port Operations (Sapo) to build a R60 million steri-citrus facility for the Japanese market.

Willem Visagie, managing director of CCS said the facility at Maydon Wharf 7 in Durban would support the government's new ports policy to introduce greater private participation and investment in cargo handling at local ports.

The facility would be able to cater for 4 800 pallets under rapid cooling for steri-citrus and a further 1 500 pallets for conventional cooling and storage. It would create job opportunities for about 80 people during the citrus season.

During harvest time - from May to August - South Africa supplies about 85 percent of the demand for grapefruit, oranges and lemons to the Japanese market. There was good growth in this business between 2001 and 2003.

The new facility was scheduled for completion by March 31 2004.

Lunga Ngcobo, public relations manager of Sapo, said strong growth in steri-citrus volumes to Japan and other markets had created the need for more quayside cooling capacity. 

All citrus imports to Japan were subject to certain protocols with regard to the cold treatment of fruit before entering the Japanese market.

These protocols were negotiated on a government-to-government level. Other markets like the US, South Korea and Taiwan were also upgrading standards and are now also demanding certain sterilisation protocols.

Ngcobo said besides the economic spin-offs, the new facility would improve asset utilisation and capacity with an increase in cargo throughput.

According to Oceana's annual report, its CCS subsidiary reported a financial performance well ahead of last year, due mainly to improved occupancy levels and activity.

Fruit volumes in Durban and Cape Town had been good and perishable imports, especially of poultry and red meat, were higher.