Opinion: Expanding Africa’s Cold Chain Network

June 13, 2025

South Africa loses 10 million tons of food each year, while hunger and inflation rise.

Our international food trade, and national food supply chain resilience, can both be transformed through expansion of the nation’s temperature-controlled food logistics network with new future-facing cold chain facilities, emerging technologies and specialist skills.

Now is the time for Ministers to stop overlooking this vital industry and start to reflect its national importance in economic policy.

Progress in implementing the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) is promising, bringing huge as-yet untapped potential for intra-continental trade. And as global trading patterns shift, an opportunity is emerging for South African ports to provide a vibrant gateway to the world for importers and exporters of temperature-sensitive food and pharmaceutical goods. Increasing our nation’s cold storage and refrigerated transportation capacity is essential to enabling greater flows of temperature-controlled products within and between countries, and to strengthening South Africa’s trade relations through AfCFTA and globally.

Increasing cold chain capacity will bring the necessary improvements needed for the resilience and efficacy of our national food supply, a challenging proposition in our changing world.

On a daily basis, South Africa’s cold chain operators solve problems with determination and creativity make remarkable adaptations in order to keep food supplies consistent in the face of extreme challenges. Recent examples include the Komatiport Border Post closures due to political unrest, total loss of energy supply in periods of loadshedding, and major ongoing port disruptions.

With fast-changing populations, rising geopolitical tensions and a warming world, extreme disruptions to global and regional food supply chains are increasing. The estimated 10 million tons of food that go to waste in South Africa every year equates to a third of what is produced. Increasing cold chain capacity will not only help cut waste by allowing more fresh and frozen food to be stored and transported, but will also enable food chain adaptations and flexibility in times of disruption — crucial to achieving any level of resilience for South Africa’s future food supply.

Our nation’s temperature-controlled logistics operators are investing to increase capacity through new facilities, leading-edge cold chain technologies, and collaborative partnerships. The new Commercial Cold Holdings (CCH) Greenbushes cold store in Gqeberha, which is now servicing Eastern Cape fruit exports and frozen imports, is a prime example.

However, all too often temperature-controlled logistics businesses investment in capacity is hamstrung by lack of support in government policy. Ministers must drive forward key changes to help unlock the cold chain growth that is vital for a robust and resilient future for South Africa.

An urgent priority is to improve energy security for the temperature-controlled warehouses where chilled and frozen food is stored. If these facilities cannot refrigerate, the fresh and frozen food supply chain breaks down. At the peak of the energy crisis in 2023, some cold storage operators were subject to daily load-shedding. Government policy must prioritize the energy supply to cold storage facilities before the next energy crisis.

For longer-term food chain energy resilience, government can remove unnecessary and frustrating planning barriers to establishing onsite renewable energy generation at cold storage facilities. Ministers should instead seek opportunities to collaborate with businesses and encourage this type of sustainable investment through, for example, extensions to Renewable Energy Incentives and provision of tax credits.

Similarly, our nation needs a collaborative, government-industry approach to catalyse the sharp increase in skilled people that is needed to operate an expanded cold chain industry. Training and development of temperature-controlled logistics technicians should combine the requirements of today with the cold chain roles of the future in, for example, automation and AI.

With these actions and effective collaboration between government and business, South Africa can become a leading ‘food basket of the world’.

Expanding our nation’s cold chain network will boost the economy and jobs; improve the safe availability food; reduce food waste; and improve access to temperature-sensitive medical treatments. The private sector is already stepping up. Now, government must do the same. The cold chain is not just a logistics issue, it is a national strategic imperative. If Ministers act with urgency, South Africa will not only feed its people and its continent, but also lead a global shift in sustainable trade and food resilience.

Paul Matthew will host business leaders to discuss the future of Africa’s temperature-controlled logistics at the GCCA Africa Cold Chain Conference on 20-21 July in Durban.