Hortgro’s outgoing chief executive Anton Rabe says private sector participation in South Africa’s ports is ‘no longer negotiable’
Frustration with the ongoing problems at South African ports seems to be reaching boiling point, with fresh produce industry leaders openly stating that ‘enough is enough’.
The latest controversy has been sparked by the low ratings that South African ports received in the most recent World Bank survey of global ports.
Cape Town was singled out as the worst container terminal of all those listed.
“Everyone, except Transnet, agrees that the only way to change this situation, is by involving the private sector in the ports,” said Anton Rabe, the outgoing chief executive of Hortgro.
“South African legislation makes provision for this and it has already been implemented in the Port of Durban,” he wrote in a message to the country’s deciduous fruit industry.
The deciduous sector, along with table grapes, has suffered most from the ongoing logistical problems in the Port of Cape Town.
“We are talking about the container terminal and not referring to the limited privatisation already in place at the MPT multipurpose terminal,” he clarified.
Rabe said it is ”incomprehensible” that after years of failing, the authority is still clinging to outdated policies and political rhetoric.
“Exporters and producers have now started holding Transnet to account for their losses and additional cost being incurred because of these problems in the Cape Town Container Terminal,” he said.
”If this is not enough to make the proverbial penny drop at Transnet nothing will.”
Rabe stated that it is in the interest of the future of the deciduous fruit business, and all those who depend on it, that the industry does not allow the continuing political and bureaucratic noise to shift their focus from the real problems.
“Private sector participation in the ports is no longer negotiable, it is a fact of life,” he said.
While the recent World Bank ratings did indicate some improvements in South African ports, which have been welcomed by the export industries, the situation in the Port of Cape Town is far from resolved.
That is why the interaction between the industries and Transnet this winter to prepare for the next export season is likely to be intense.
