A partnership between Western Cape fruit exporters, the provincial government and Transnet Port Terminals has delivered a long-awaited solution to the power point shortage at Cape Town’s port during peak fruit export seasons.

Two 500 kVA generators have been installed at the Cape Town Container Terminal, providing 120 reefer container plug points. This eliminates bottlenecks during peak export weeks and ensures a dedicated reefer stack can be loaded even during high-wind conditions – one of the port’s major operational challenges.

The project was jointly funded by the Western Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism, the agriculture business chamber Agbiz, deciduous fruit growing members of Hortgro, the South African Table Grape Industry, the Fresh Produce Exporters’ Forum and agri-business KAL Group.

Transnet Port Terminals has indicated its willingness to explore similar projects in future.

“This project benefits exporters operating out of the Cape Town Container Terminal directly and serves as a pilot project for future initiatives. We can apply the lessons learned to pave the way for future public-sector partnership projects between Transnet Port Terminals and cargo owners,” said Agbiz Chief Executive Officer Theo Boshoff.

“We look forward to seeing the positive impact this will have on fresh produce exports from the Western Cape and to continuing our collaboration with the Western Cape government and Transnet Port Terminals to drive growth and development in the sector.”

According to Boshoff, the project was initiated after Transnet Port Terminals requested generators and mobile plug points during discussions on improving port efficiency. The Cape Town Container Terminal was ranked the worst in the World Bank’s Container Port Performance Index last year.

Western Cape Minister of Agriculture, Economic Development and Tourism Dr Ivan Meyer said the initiative will “substantially reduce the risk of delays in moving large volumes of perishable cargo caused by disruptive events such as extended periods of high wind speeds”.

Transnet Port Terminals Western Cape Managing Executive Oscar Borchards said the company remains committed to improving efficiency at the port.

“Our focus is to continue strengthening our relations with all our stakeholders within the entire value chain. This project is one of the strides we have been making through collaboration with our stakeholders and we appreciate the spirit with which it has been executed with the fruit industry.

“Projects like these very much align with our commitment to efficiently deliver fresh cargo from our customers to the global markets timeously. We are excited to explore similar initiatives in future,” Borchards said.