International cold storage organisation, Lineage, is working with logistics and container terminal services group, Flinders Port Holdings (FPH), to open a DAFF-accredited cold storage facility in Edinburgh Parks, South Australia – aiming to establish a faster and more cost-effective option for exporting fresh produce to international markets.
With a growing local population and rising export demands, Australia’s cold storage market has been struggling to keep up. Cushman & Wakefield’s Frozen Logistics report last July revealed storage vacancy was 0.6 per cent, well below the broader logistics and industrial average of 3 per cent.
The food supply chain has also been under stress, with soaring costs and disrupted international trade routes. Maritime transport challenges and weather-related disruptions have had a huge impact on Australian transport, warehousing, and commodity prices.
About 90 per cent of South Australia’s citrus and table grape crops are exported via sea freight, with the majority currently departing Australian shores from Victoria. FPH, which owns and operates the Adelaide Container Terminal and seven ports across South Australia, is working with Lineage to provide a facility accredited by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) for fruit export and cold treatment from the state.
Until now, South Australia has not had a DAFF-accredited cold storage facility to handle fruit and vegetables from the state’s produce-growing regions, which has limited export opportunities from regions such as the Riverland.
Without this approved facility, Riverland producers must use alternate supply chain solutions, including transporting their produce to Mildura and other Victorian-based DAFF-approved cold storage facilities prior to transportation, and then exporting via Melbourne Ports.
FPH group business development manager, Richard Brine, said producers battling increasing competition from other markets are constantly looking for ways to streamline and reduce supply chain costs, while obtaining a fair price for their produce.
“We have exporters based in the Riverland who transport their produce to cold storage locations in Victoria and then move it to the Port of Melbourne via road and rail,” said Brine.
“Exporters are interested in using South Australia’s Ports, should a cold store be available. They will now be able to transport to Edinburgh in two to three hours from the Riverland, hold it in cold storage, and ship it out from Port Adelaide, saving them transport costs and time to market.
“Transporting produce to Adelaide is more cost effective than moving it to Mildura and putting it on a train to Melbourne. When you’re competing with international exporters in global markets, every cost saving counts,” he said.
FPH has spent the past year working on a more efficient and sustainable solution for South Australia’s citrus and table grape exporters. Another route to market via South Australia’s ports would provide supply chain resilience.
Lineage recently gained approval from DAFF to be a plant registered establishment for fruit export and cold treatment for Riverland fruit to all export protocol destinations, such as China, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, the US, and other South East Asian countries.
“Our conservative analysis, based on our research and our discussions with many growers, is that this option could save at least 20 per cent on transport costs,” said Brine.
“Farmers are saying if they could save $1 per carton, that’s important to them, with further benefits in terms of cost and time savings and competing in the global market. We’re hoping Riverland growers will see the initial benefits, and then we hope to later extend that to the Sunraysia region.”
Lineage has been working to expand its cold-storage and cold chain facilities to support the growing local and export market, with the acquisition of Fremantle City Coldstores (FCC) in Western Australia at the beginning of last year.
