The following article on his first year in office was written by Paul Matthew, Director for Africa at the Global Cold Chain Alliance (GCCA). It is Part 1 of a two-part series.
It has certainly been a busy time since I joined GCCA as director for Africa in May 2024. We are in a time of significant change for temperature-controlled storage and logistics providers; there are serious challenges for our industry to overcome but also great potential for growth and exciting new opportunities in refrigerated supply chain.
GCCA is committed to providing our members in Africa with expert advice, to advocating on behalf of the cold chain to governments and authorities, and to creating invaluable forums for discussion, sharing knowledge and building new relationships. It was a real pleasure to deliver these commitments when we brought the cold chain together at our GCCA Africa Conference in Cape Town in August.
In addition to the insights and discussions of the conference programme, we also announced our GCCA Call to Action document. This sets out clearly why the cold chain industry in Africa is vital for food security, public health, economic development and sustainability. It details the actions needed to encourage and support investment into this sector and enable the significant long-term benefits for communities across the continent which cold chain growth will deliver.
Since launching this Call to Action at the conference, GCCA has taken its messages to a plethora of politicians, government departments and development officials across the continent. This included a constructive series of meetings in West Africa in September and October, with strong progress made towards accessing the fantastic potential for cold chain growth and development in the region.
One major challenge that our Call to Action document highlights is the widespread issues with reliable access to energy supply. We detailed the impacts of loadshedding in a special report that we published in October 2024, urging governments to work with the cold chain on a suite of policy actions that will allow operators to boost their energy resilience – and therefore Africa’s food supply chain resilience – in preparation for future blackouts and load-shedding.
In 2025, GCCA Africa will be working to advance the development of cold chain infrastructure and logistics across the continent. There is striking potential for cold chain growth, and GCCA will be working for the policy environments, networks and solutions to challenges that will allow temperature-controlled logistic operators to deliver the multiple benefits of a growing African cold chain. These cover food waste reduction and improving food supply chain resilience to crucial contributions to international trade, economic growth, public health and environmental sustainability.