Browsing by Author "Fedeli, Savia"
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- ItemIdentifying temperature breaks in pome fruit and table grape export cold chains from South Africa to the United Kingdom and the Netherlands : a Western Cape case(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-12) Fedeli, Savia; Goedhals-Gerber, Leila Louise; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Logistics. Logistics.ENGLISH SUMMARY : There is a growing concern in the South African fruit industry of increasing losses, both financially and of the produce itself, as a result of temperature breaks in the export cold chain. This concern was so significant that an investigative enquiry was prompted by Company X, a prominent fruit exporter, into the origins of temperature breaks within their export cold chains of apples, pears and table grapes from the Western Cape, South Africa to The Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Two rounds of observations were conducted. Firstly, in South Africa at the farms, pack houses, cold stores and Cape Town Container Terminal. Secondly, in Europe at the Port of Rotterdam and the first European cold store. Further analysis was done through the temperature trials conducted from February to July 2018. This enabled a deductive, mixed methods research approach where the qualitative data aided the understanding of the quantitative data. The data analysed began from the pack houses in South Africa and concluded at the first distribution centre within the country of import. The analysis of the data collected highlighted and confirmed suspected areas prone to temperature breaks as well as identified new, unsuspected areas. Three chief problem areas of the South Africa leg, across all three fruit kinds, were identified. These include the pack house and cold store, in and around the gate-in point of the container at port and just prior to the vessels Actual Time of Departure (ATD). A further three problem areas were identified in the pome fruit trials only. These included just after Actual Time of Arrival (ATA) of the vessel, during the barge stage and at the point where the container was destuffed. The impacts of the unsuspected heat gained, especially by the pome fruit, in the initial stages of the cold chains were shown to have far reaching and long-lasting, detrimental effects for entire pallets and thus, ultimately the entire containers. A further key insight gained was the importance of fruit respiration rates and its relationship with temperature. The research provided key insights into identifying weak links within the export cold chains of deciduous fruit. The results of the research demonstrated this with the number of temperature breaks, their frequency and durations recorded within certain stages as well as detrimental effects on the quality of the fruit. Company X can use the findings of the research to adjust current practices to prevent temperature breaks from occurring in future and diminish the quality of the final product. Furthermore, with the insights of Company X, the efficiency of the entire export cold chain as a whole could be improved. This increase in efficiency could lead to possible financial incentives such as cost savings, environmental savings such as cooling efficiency and reduction in food waste as well as even possibly a higher quality end product with a longer shelf life.