CCH was established last year, with funds managed by African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), to improve essential food security across sub-Saharan Africa through temperature-controlled logistics infrastructure. Picture: Supplied.
Cold storage and logistics provider Commercial Cold Holdings (CCH) on Friday announced the acquisition of iDube Cold Storage, based in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), for an undisclosed amount as it continues its expansion within the temperature-controlled logistics industry.
The acquisition expanded CCH’s national footprint, bringing the total capacity to 153 000 pallet positions across 11 facilities in South Africa and Namibia.
CCH chief commercial officer Francois Roux said iDube would significantly enhance their capabilities in the region, increasing their total capacity in KZN to 25 000 pallet positions.
“This new addition complements our already established and well-known Keystone Park facility,” Roux said.
The transaction was said to represent CCH’s third deal after acquiring CCS Logistics and Sequence Logistics last year, a leading temperature-controlled warehousing, distribution and supply chain solutions provider across Southern Africa.
In 2022, CCH also announced a milestone deal to acquire CCS Logistics from Oceana Group Limited.
CCH was established last year with funds managed by African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) to improve essential food security across sub-Saharan Africa through temperature-controlled logistics infrastructure.
The addition of the iDube facility to CCH’s warehousing network will provide 9 000 pallets of refrigerated capacity in Durban.
Damilola Agbaje, investment director at AIIM, said additional capacity at iDube provided CCH with the opportunity to extend its offering in KZN and nationally, thereby meeting the demand from new and existing customers.
AIIM said it believed temperature-controlled logistics (TCL) infrastructure was critical for improving Sub-Saharan Africa’s food security, allowing domestic producers to meet the standards required to participate in global trade; and creating higher value jobs through more formal food retail and wholesale models.
“CCH remained committed to investing and growing Africa’s cold storage infrastructure and thereby improving food security and quality for the continent,” Agbaje said.
Paul Gibbons, chief executive of CCH, said the iDube location was strategic given that its port location facilitates imports for its customers.
“It is our intent to invest in the iDube people, systems, infrastructure and capabilities to improve service to our customers. Further to this, we will look at reducing our carbon footprint through increased use of renewable energy,” Gibbons said.
Meanwhile, Wandile Sihlobo, the chairman of the Agribusiness Working Group in the BRICS+ Business Council (South Africa), said on Saturday that agriculture was one sector where the need for deepening regional economic integration and trade was more urgent.
“Currently, the original BRICS countries, before the additional members from the 15th Johannesburg 2023 Summit, imported, on average, nearly $300 billion worth of agricultural products annually. China and India account for the lion’s share of these imports,” Sihlobo said
The key agricultural products the BRICS grouping imported were soybeans, palm oil, beef, maize, berries, wheat, cotton, pork, apricots and peaches, sorghum, rice and sugar. These were products that are produced at scale by some BRICS countries.
However, Sihlobo said imports to other BRICS members typically originated from suppliers outside the grouping.
BUSINESS REPORT