The brazen looting at Value Logistics in Cato Ridge and Massmart’s warehouse in Queen Nandi Drive, Durban, two months ago stunned the nation, but it did not rob the warehousing giants of their tenacity.
Footage of the looting at Value Logistics showed luxury cars parked on the N3 while their owners went into the facility for goods. Looters formed a 3km queue to strip the warehouse bare. It went on for three days.
Value Logistics CEO Steven Gottschalk told Sunday Times Daily the Cato Ridge warehouse and two rental truck offices which were affected by the riots were now fully operational.
“Getting the facilities back up and running required the full commitment of our Value employees, and the cleanup and rebuilding commenced on July 15, once we were able to reclaim possession of our sites from the looters and rioters.
“As at July 26, after the dedication and hard work from our Value employees, we declared that our Value facilities and operations were back up and running. As at this date, all services were once again being provided to our customers, including break-bulk logistics, linehaul, warehousing, truck rental, express, materials handling, chemical distribution and dedicated distribution,” he said.
The financial loss was not yet fully determined, but estimated to be “many millions of rand”, added Gottschalk.
“Our losses are being claimed from Sasria in terms of our insurance policy. We are working with the appointed loss adjuster in this regard. The types of losses sustained include significant damage to the buildings, vehicles, materials handling equipment, IT equipment, and the loss and damage of various products being stored or transported on behalf of Value Logistics’ customers,” he said.
Fortunately no staff were injured during the violence and all returned to work when it was safe.
“We at Value Logistics have never experienced such a catastrophic event as the events which took place in KZN in July 2021. We were deeply shocked and concerned by the levels of looting and violence that occurred.
“However, despite the hardship and fear we experienced, we were very encouraged by the goodwill of many South Africans from all walks of life and all races who showed they are committed to a better SA,” added Gottschalk.
Massmart spokesperson Brian Leroni said the Nandi Drive warehouse, which had been looted for days by hundreds of people, was not operational.
“The warehouse, which we lease, was damaged by fire. However, we have redundancy built in to our national distribution centre network and we have therefore been able to shift supply capacity to our other distribution facilities,” he said.
Makro in Springfield, Durban, where looters even removed the solar panels from the parking lot roof, and Pietermaritzburg were significantly damaged and will be redeveloped.
“We are working with property developers and contractors towards achieving this.
“Makro Springfield and Makro PMB permanent staff remain employed, the majority of whom have been redeployed to other Makro or Massmart group stores,” Leroni said.
Springfield Retail Centre, which was also looted and vandalised, said 50% of its tenants were trading and its anchor, Food Lovers Market, opened its refurbished store seven days after it was hit.
“We also anticipate that 70% of the centre’s tenants will trade by December 2021,” said Emira Property Fund’s COO Ulana van Biljon.
The estimated cost of the damage is in the region of R50m.
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