By Eamonn Ryan
Maersk has officially inaugurated its new Belcon Cold Store facility in Cape Town, representing a R1.72-billion investment aimed at strengthening South Africa’s cold chain logistics capabilities.
The facility adds 32 000 pallet positions for temperature-controlled storage and features an on-site container depot to streamline cargo handling. The launch comes shortly after Grindrod opened a new container depot in Salt River, Cape Town, underscoring a wave of private-sector investment focused on enhancing export efficiency and freight resilience in the region.
Tackling supply chain bottlenecks
South Africa’s perishable exports, particularly grapes, have long suffered losses due to logistical delays and cold-chain interruptions – estimated to cost the industry up to R1.5-billion annually. According to Lubabalo Mtya, MD of Maersk Southern Africa and Islands, the Belcon Cold Store “directly addresses a critical gap in the market, supporting exporters and boosting the competitiveness of local produce”.
Maersk’s cold-storage network in South Africa now spans three sites: Belcon in Cape Town, and Cato and PreCool near Durban. These facilities are fully integrated with Maersk’s global fleet of nearly 700 vessels, providing producers with what the company calls an “unbroken cold chain” to international markets. While the former was a greenfields project, the latter two were acquisitions.
The Belcon project also created more than 700 temporary jobs during construction and has established 55 permanent positions, including cold-store operators, logistics coordinators, technicians, and administrative staff.
Precision operations during peak citrus season
Richard Morgan, Maersk’s regional MD for India, the Middle East and Africa, highlighted the facility’s immediate impact. During the peak citrus season in August, the team coordinated inbound trucking, monitored inventory in real time, and scheduled outbound shipments to vessels with meticulous precision. The next focus for Belcon is supporting the Western Cape’s table-grape season, beginning in November.
Western Cape Minister of Mobility Isaac Sileku emphasised the facility’s strategic role in the Overberg Rail Business Case Pilot, which reconnects Caledon’s agricultural region directly to the Belcon terminal and the Port of Cape Town. “Belcon has already doubled its freight volume to the port, and with further private-sector investment, those numbers are expected to rise,” he said.
Together, these developments reflect renewed momentum in private-sector logistics investment, enhancing the region’s export capacity and positioning South Africa as a more resilient player in global trade.
Maersk’s Belcon Cold Store will feature in the print version of Cold Link Africa as a project in due course.