Creecy stated, “From September, we’ll be sitting together with agents - freight forwarding agents that would be responsible for moving product from farms right through onto the dock and the vessel. We also need to bring in the vessel owners.

“We’ve got to ensure that all the produce is in back of port facilities, plugged in to cold storage… that when our meteorologists tell us that we’re going to have a break in the wind, we’re ready to move product onto the dock. And of course we have to make sure the ship hasn’t got tired of waiting and gone off to Gqeberha and it’s ready to receive the product on time.”

Working closely with Transnet and the involved stakeholders, the November/December period will see extra staff on duty, with additional crew hailing from Gqeberha and Durban.

Darul Ihsan Media Desk