Special port permit needed

‘LIFT RED TAPE’: GQEBERHA COULD MOVE FROZEN FOODS WHILE DURBAN IS OUT OF ACTION

Global distibutor wants concessions to enable speed for imports.

Unlisted global distributor of frozen foods Hume International is urging government to implement a “state of emergency concession” for the Eastern Cape’s Gqeberha port and to lift red tape that prevents efficient movement of food and other goods into the country.

The group’s call this week comes in the wake of the KwaZulu-Natal floods, which caused delays at the port of Durban, which have had a ripple effect on the country’s other ports such as at Gqeberha, formerly Port Elizabeth.

Hume International’s operations director Roy Thomas says Gqeberha’s secondary port status means there is significantly less capacity and fewer inspectors available to perform the duty required of veterinary inspectors under veterinary procedural notices, a special concession regarding how imported goods are processed.

He notes that the lack of capacity and inspectors mean only a few containers are unpacked per day at the Nelson Mandela Bay port.

Hume International, which imported more than 180 million kilograms of food products last year, says with the destruction of vital roads, power and infrastructure and damage to commercial cold stores in Durban, additional strain is being put on Gqeberha’s port facilities.

“On behalf of all importers, we would like to respectfully urge government to alleviate the situation by granting an emergency concession for businesses to unpack a larger number of containers at the port [of Gqeberha],” it adds.

“This would ease some of the delays and remove pressure on commercial cold storage facilities by enabling goods to be distributed more quickly.”

The group says the functional cold stores in Durban are stocking up ahead of the upcoming season, leaving many without capacity to store the overflow of goods.

“Importers are therefore being forced to turn to Gqeberha, but the number of import cold storage facilities in the area, which have been approved by the department of agriculture, land reform and rural development, are very limited,” explains Frederick Hume, managing director of Hume International.