Durban – BerriesZA has said that the Transnet strike is crippling berry exports while South Africa loses R134 million weekly.
BerriesZA chairperson Justin Mudge said they were “gravely concerned” about the outlook for the berry industry, with no end to the Transnet strike in sight.
“Despite engagements with Transnet last week, no contingency plans have been put in place to ensure shipments of berries could continue leaving South African ports,” Mudge said.
“As a result, more than 80 containers of berries destined for European markets have been sitting at the ports, with the strike costing the industry more than R134 million a week, and putting thousands of jobs at risk.
“Even if a solution to the impasse is found in the next day or two, the backlog in the berry value chain will take weeks to clear, resulting in hundreds of millions of rand in further losses for the sector,” Mudge pointed out.
He said the disruption to the country’s exports comes at a time when load shedding already undermined South Africa’s cold chain systems, and thus the ability to meet international standards. Together with the Transnet disruption, these challenges pose long-term threats to South Africa’s reputation as an exporter and perception as a reliable supplier of high-quality produce.
He also said that despite the Transnet executive team indicating that they would put contingency plans in place to ensure crucial goods would continue being exported during the strike, this has not materialised.
“That this scenario was not adequately planned for in advance points to poor leadership at the ports authority, which has put South Africa’s entire economy at risk,” Mudge said.
“This includes the livelihoods of 30 000 workers in the berry industry, with at least 90% of these employees being economically vulnerable women in rural communities,” he added.
He said while the Durban Chamber of Commerce estimated the daily cost of the strike at R1 billion per day, it is clear that the country must reconsider Transnet’s monopoly on port operations.
“The berry industry alone was expected to contribute at least R3 billion in export revenue this season, which now stands to be lost. It is clear that South African businesses need alternatives to the deeply troubled Transnet-operated ports. It is therefore essential the government as well as the Competition Commission review the impact of the status quo on South African businesses and livelihoods,” Mudge said.
He added that with no end to the strike in sight, despite Transnet’s ongoing negotiations with the unions, it is imperative that the ports authority puts emergency plans in place to mitigate the impact of the current strike on the economy. “These plans must also include action steps to clear the ever-growing backlogs across a range of critical industries as quickly as possible, once the strike ends.”
“BerriesZA will continue engaging with the Transnet executive and calls on the Cabinet ministers to urgently intervene in this crisis, so that the current impasse with the unions is resolved and the country’s ports can reopen again,” Mudge said.
He recently said the strike action also follows the industry having been severely impacted by ongoing operational issues at the country’s ports as a result of “ageing and out-of-service infrastructure, inefficient systems, and staff shortages”.
“Shipments had also been delayed as a result of the poor performance at South Africa’s ports that have affected the quality of berries that reach international markets, resulting in product rejection rates from receiving clients skyrocketing to an unprecedented quarter of a billion rand last year,” Mudge said.
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