The South African container logistics company United Container Depots (UCD) has changed depot location in South Africa, from Paarden Eiland, where the company opened its first depot in the early '90s, to larger premises in Beaconvale, Parow, Cape Town.
The new container depot has a box stacking area of over 20,000m², warehouse space of 4,000m², dedicated controlled atmosphere (CA) gassing area for up to four trucks, three empty container handling machines, 120 reefer plug points as well as dedicated collection and drop-off truck lanes.
With a laydown area double the size of their previous depot, the new depot can accommodate a capacity of over 3,600TEU.
Andrew Sturrock, a member of the Grindrod Freight Services Executive, said, “Over the years, we have adjusted our business model from operating as a general-purpose depot to focusing on 60-70% reefer-orientated work. Having doubled our current capacity, we can now offer our customers a more streamlined system of container movement through the yard.”
UCD is an accredited warranty service agent for Star Cool, Daikin, Carrier, and Thermo King reefer equipment manufacturers and agents for third party CA suppliers Liventus and Purfresh in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
UCD currently has depots in Johannesburg, Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) and Durban in South Africa, while it is also looking at acquiring another site in Durban in the near future.
"Using the Beaconvale model as a guideline for the new branch, we will adjust the site layout accordingly if required," noted UCD in its announcement.
UCD is owned by Sturrock Grindrod Maritime (SGM) and, along with its sister companies Hesper Engineering, NovaMarine, and SwiftNova Engineering, make up the SGM Technical Division within Grindrod Limited.
CEO of UCD's mother company, Marcus Twine commented on the new container depot, “We have cameras recording all in and outbound traffic with secure electrified fencing around the premises. There is also a larger workshop area now for container repairs, and we will look at increasing our technical staff complement to service our growing depot.”
