Cape farmers pay the price as Transnet loses grip

Fruit worth millions of rands left to rot at the harbour, drastically reduced crop yields as a result of delays in delivering seeds to farmers, and insufficient staff at ports to handle cargo.

These are among the stories that the Western Cape farming community shared this week to illustrate the failings of the country’s infrastructure for a region that is one of the mainstays of South African agriculture, accounting for about 55% of primary agricultural exports.

In June, the Western Cape government said the province was the dominant player in the horticultural sector. And in September finance MEC Mireille Wenger said the province’s agricultural sector had outperformed all others over the past decade and was expected to expand by 8.8% this year.

Villiers Loubser produces grains and grapes and keeps livestock near Durbanville, on the northeastern outskirts of Cape Town. He said this week that he expects his canola crop to be at least 30% smaller than last year because he was forced to plant an older, lower-yielding variety of the grain. The reason: a delay in the delivery of seed from Durban harbour. Because of the narrow planting window, he resorted to a different cultivar to meet the cut-off.

Still, Loubser counts himself lucky. As president of Agri Western Cape, he is aware others suffered bigger setbacks. After the pandemic-linked lockdown, the sector was expecting things to pick up but that was not the case. Instead, equipment at Cape Town harbour was out of order and staff were not working full-time.

“Fruit growers were hit the hardest this year. All the citrus exporters soft fruits, prunes suffered a great deal of damage.”

Such anecdotes reinforce the perception that Transnet the custodian of the country’s harbours and railways has taken its hands off the wheel. The issue gained traction during the recent Transnet strike that cost the economy R1bn a day, according to Western Cape premier Alan Winde.

A survey published this month by the Cape Chamber of Commerce & Industry identified Transnet operations as among the main concerns of the province’s business community. About 40% of respondents said ports were inefficient, 62% said the rail system was inefficient, and 34% said the road network was inefficient.

Gavin Kelly, CEO of the Road Freight Association, told Business Times last week that the nation’s infrastructure was deteriorating, including at ports. He said ships waited five to 10 days at South African ports with no certainty that they were going to be loaded or offloaded. As a result, Transnet was losing market share. Like Loubser, Kelly’s message to Transnet is to bring the private sector on board to fill the gaps.

“For me, at this stage, the solution would be to involve the private sector as much as possible, as quickly as possible.

“The private sector is ready. Many people want to invest. The private sector will be able to fill all the vacuums in Transnet,” Loubser said.

He said that in recent months he had noticed improvements at Cape Town harbour, thanks to interventions by the provincial government. More equipment had been procured and working hours were extended.

Transnet said it had created a plan with the maritime logistics sector to improve efficiency at Cape Town harbour. One of its biggest challenges were winds, long waves, high swells and fog. To deal with these conditions new equipment is due to be delivered next month, and it plans to secure a helicopter to guide vessels into the port.

It said on Tuesday it had resumed operations after 12 days of labour stoppages.