Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter
GIANT sugar producer, Tongaat Hulett, plans to rope in competent transport operators who would enhance the company’s drive to expand its regional market distribution footprint.

Tongaat has operations in Zimbabwe where it operates Hippo Valley Estates Limited and Triangle Limited, which are major sugarcane growing and milling operations in the South Eastern Lowveld of the country.

Yesterday the company issued a public notice inviting tenders from registered transport operators with a minimum of five trucks per organisation for consideration in its regional service offering.

“The company is inviting tenders from qualifying operators for the provision of sugar haulage/transport services from the Hippo Valley Estates and Triangle Limited Sugar Mills to designated market destinations in Zimbabwe, Mozambique (Beira) and Botswana (Lobatse),” reads the notice.

Sugar production is one of the key units in the country’s agriculture sector. However, in the 10 months period to December 2020, Tongaat’s overall cane deliveries from its plantations and private farmers trailed the prior year due to the impact of irrigation power challenges, as well as the dry spell experienced during the 2019/20 peak growing period of October to March.

During the period, the company harvested 1 043 774 tonnes of cane, which was three percent lower than the comparable period in 2019. Private farmers harvested 592 722 tonnes reflecting a 14 percent decrease from the prior comparable period in 2019.

In 2019, the firm commissioned a 4 000-hectare sugar project with 2 700ha of virgin land having already been cleared and ripped.

The sugar project, which is called “Kilimanjaro” is designed to assist the underprivileged members of society. Work on the 4 000ha cane development project (Kilimanjaro), which is being undertaken in partnership with Triangle Limited, the Government and local banks, has seen 562ha planted in the prior year.

According to the notice, service contracts for regional distribution would likely commence from August this year and will subsist for a minimum period of three years, with the option to extend to five years subject to assessment of economic fundamentals.

Tongaat has said interested truck operators should demonstrate capability to delivering reliable, safe and operational cost efficiencies in the system and provide physical proof of ownership, among other requirements. — @okazunga.