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Copyright © 1999 FleetWatch magazine and FleetWatch On-Line. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the prior written permission from the publishers. Views published are not necessarily those of the publishers. |
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October
1999
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Stand in Kakamas during a five-week period from December to early February and you will feel the ground shaking under your feet. The town is at the epicenter of a transport earthquake of huge - and growing - proportions. At the height of the grape harvesting season in midsummer, one company runs more than 100 heavy transport vehicles a day from the Upington district to Cape Town. Capespan (formerly Unifruco) sends some five million cartons of seedless grapes to the ocean terminal at Table Bay from where the grapes are exported to hungry markets abroad. Capespan International PLC is responsible for the distribution and marketing, in Europe, of fruit, wines and juices. Other than exports, some of the deliveries go to Gauteng and other domestic markets for direct sales rather than export. The value of Lower Orange River grapes bought by Capespan, in revenue to the growers, is estimated at over R300-million. And according to Fred Meintjes, PR spokesman for Capespan, we ain’t seen nothing yet. "This is a huge volume business and in our view, it is one of the fastest growing sectors of agriculture," he told FleetWatch. "Although we call the vehicles doing the transport ‘our fleet’ they are in fact owned by others to whom we contract for the transport work." The transport side of things can only get bigger and busier as the cornucopia of the Orange River pours forth its riches. Meintjes pointed out that if 100 trucks a day are driving south, then turning around to go right back, it means some 200 trucks a day may be on the road during peak season. This raises questions about the quality of the roads and the safety thereof. Most trucks follow the 850 km-odd route via Kenhardt, Brandvlei and Calvinia down the Vanrhyns pass and onto the N7. Other truckers prefer the longer haul via Pofadder and Springbok, which adds about 100km overall. Either way, road surfaces are currently good but the roadways are narrow and the N7 from Cape Town to Windhoek is often very busy and hence dangerous. The Vanrhyns pass has witnessed a number of truck accidents in recent years. Sooner or later, the boom on the Lower Orange is going to force upgrading of the southerly routes. What is needed is a more direct route from Upington or Kakamas over the plains of Bushmanland, through the rugged ranges of the Hantams, Roggeveld, and Swartruggens mountains, to the Peninsula. It’s a tall order for cash-strapped government and the chances are, if a new route were built, it would be tolled at several points. Juice and wine tankers would welcome a new route too. One Stellenbosch vintier said tankers needed the smoothest run possible. Oxidation of the grape liquids was prevented by expelling air from the tanks and pumping in nitrogen, carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide, but long journeys on rough roads always caused some deterioration he said. "The bulk produce of the Lower Orange is cheaper and maybe of slightly lower value than that from southwestern Cape grape varieties, but we must seek to retain the best quality," he said. "Roll on a new road!" Alternative Articles |
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Trucks
at the Centre of Growth