The winds of change continue to blow through South Africa's Capespan Group, with long-standing chairman Dr Paul Clüver opting to step down from his position, and subsidiary FPT Group's headquarters closing down with immediate effect.
In announcing his retirement, Clüver said the move was appropriate against the background of his long period of service and the fact that majority shareholder Zeder Investments had taken over the interest of the other two major shareholders in Capespan, becoming the outright controlling shareholder with 71 per cent interest.
“I discussed the change in control with fellow directors and the logical need for Zeder to get much more directly involved in setting the strategy of the Group and guiding management,' Clüver explained. 'The majority of my fellow directors have decided to follow my lead and resign or retire by the annual general meeting.”
This news has been followed by the revelation that the headquarters of FPT Group, the Capespan Group’s logistics company which has port terminals in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Durban and Maputo, are to close.
“In order to ensure the continued profitability and sustainability of the FPT Group and to specifically counter the continued increase in container action, the FPT board approved the closure of the FPT head office structure,” said Dr Dawie Ferreira, CEO of Capespan Logistics.
Ferreira, who also announced the resignation of FPT managing director Danie Schoeman, emphasised that the transition and subsequent integration of functions would be handled seamlessly and without undue disruption to normal terminal operations.
He admitted, however, that the continued move to containers is still putting pressure on the conventional terminals within the group, and that steps would be taken to invest in more container-friendly facilities.
Durban delays
Meanwhile, it has been reported that delays at the port of Durban have become a huge problem for South Africa's citrus export industry.
Since the start of the season significant volumes of citrus have been switched from the Port of Maputo in Mozambique to Durban, resulting in increased congestion.
Ferreira noted that the switch from Maputo to Durban was largely due to the joint shipping agreements between NYK and Seatrade via the port of Maputo coming to an end.
“This has resulted in a demand for more containers, while slow approval of the registered shippers to China and increased early volumes due for Japan had put cold storage space under pressure,' he explained.
Industry spokesmen have said that some shippers are hesitant to commit themselves to conventional shipments to Europe for fear that citrus black spot interceptions may occur. Special industry disciplines, required to avoid interceptions, are also slowing up the process.
“So far the lemon growers from the eastern Cape have cut around 1m cartons of their lemon shipments to Europe to avoid the risk of interventions,” says the Citrus Growers Association's Justin Chadwick, who added that the industry was now moving into the critical peak shipping period and that every day without the tolerance being exceeded was of vital importance to the industry.
There are some significant challenges ahead for the citrus industry. So far only around 10m cartons have been shipped out of a total harvest of 106m cartons, meaning that almost 90m cartons have to be shipped over the five-month period between now and October.
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