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Business Reporter
Sea freight is now the preferred transportation mode for fresh produce worldwide compared to air transportation. During his recent working visit to Zimbabwe, a horticultural expert from the Netherlands-based organisation PUM, Mr Carel van Oosterzee, called on fresh produce exporters to brace for changes in the transportation mode. “The international market is advocating for awareness of environmental impact of freight-forwarding services and is preferring the use of greener services to transport goods. A cargo plane leaves a higher carbon footprint and has less carrying capacity compared to a cargo ship, which is considered to be a much greener transportation mode”, said van Oosterzee.

In the 2015 /2016 season, Zimbabwe exported about 6 000 tonnes of sugar snap and mange tout peas, according to Eurostat. In 2017, the tonnage to be exported is expected to increase to about 8 000 tonnes.

The expert added that when using sea freight, planning and timing of delivery is essential. For example, there may be a need to harvest at night or early in the morning when temperatures are still low, bring the produce quickly from the field to the pack shed as well as sort and grade product immediately for temperature optimisation.

This will ensure that your product does not lose shelf life due to temperature variations arising from poor handling and re-packing. Currently, 20-tonne containers of mange tout and sugar snap peas are transported to Johannesburg, re-packed into sea containers, and then further transported to the Ports (ie Cape Town and Durban).

From Cape Town it takes about 18-20 days of sea journey to London or Rotterdam (Netherlands), in containers, which should maintain a temperature of 1,5 degrees Celsius.

The repacking has a negative effect on the produce.
The change from sea freight has significant effects on the marketing of the peas. Exporters need a relatively large volume of mange tout or sugar snap peas to send on a weekly basis at least one or two containers of 20 tonnes to Europe.

“Because of this, I urge exporters to form alliances to fill up containers, to optimise routings and create lower waiting times at the harbour,” said van Oosterzee.

Sea freighting is a slower mode of delivery, which means a longer pay-out period by the customer. This implies more prudent finance planning by the exporters.