Fresh Produce Terminals (FPT) managing director Danie Maartens has resigned from the company, which is Capespan Group’s logistics division, to pursue new opportunities.
Dawie Ferreira, FPT’s chairman, will stand in as managing director until a permanent appointment has been made.
The departure of Mr Maartens was greeted with surprise in South African logistics circles, particularly against the background of his 13 year track record at FPT during which the company built up a reputation as one of the most successful divisions of the Capespan Group.
“There is nothing sinister about my departure,” Mr Maartens told Fruitnet.com. “After 13 years I need a new challenge and I am now considering various options within the area of logistics.”
Mr Maartens says he was particularly pleased with FPT’s financial performance, despite the fact that the company also had to re-engineer itself because of the rise in the use of containers and the decline of conventional reefer shipping. “The way we achieved a restructure to handle products other than fruit is another aspect I am very proud of,” he said.
Part of this transformation was increasing the company’s capability to handle containers.
Fresh Produce Terminals operates fruit terminals in the South African ports of Durban, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town and in the port of Maputo in Mozambique. It also has a cold store at Addo in the Sunday’s River Valley in the Eastern Cape. Last year, FPT handled about 720,000 pallets of fruit and around 750,000 tonnes of general cargo in its terminals. This reflects the significant shift from fruit to general cargo brought about by the rise in the container business.
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