Grindrod: pioneering containerisation in South Africa

August 24, 2026

When Grindrod opened the country’s first container depot and service in 1971, containerisation was becoming a global phenomenon, and South Africa needed operators willing to build the infrastructure to keep pace. Grindrod was one of them.

The organisation was founded by Captain John Grindrod in 1910 as a clearing and forwarding agency. While it may have taken another 60 years to launch South Africa’s containerisation sector, today Grindrod is a JSE-listed freight and logistics group with subsidiaries, joint ventures and associated companies spanning 21 countries across the globe.

Grindrod’s container logistics network handles everything from dry bulk commodities to refrigerated cargo, connecting inland supply chains with ports and global markets. Strategically located depots, warehouses and container yards across South Africa and Mozambique provide reliable storage, handling and distribution solutions. In South Africa, Grindrod’s container business operates facilities in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg with a combined footprint of 151,000m² and capacity for close to 13,500 TEUs.

From depot to network

The container business is an integral link in providing customers with an integrated logistics solution from source to final destination. Through a comprehensive suite of services, including rail and road transportation, terminal operations, ships agency, container depots, clearing and forwarding and cross-border logistics, Grindrod provides a gateway to global markets.

As a leading container logistics provider, the business provides empty and full container storage and handling, structural and mechanical repairs to IICL standards and specialised reefer solutions that support South Africa’s export-driven agricultural sector.

The reefer solutions include dedicated controlled atmosphere (CA) gassing areas, multiple reefer towers and accredited warranty and service-centre status with major reefer manufacturers including Star Cool, Daikin, Carrier and Thermo King.

The Durban and Johannesburg depots also stage full reefer and dry containers, while Durban’s customs-licensed warehouse manages border inspections and overstays. A transport desk coordinates national road movement of empty and full containers, while all three depots sell cargo-worthy second-hand containers, including refrigerated units for static cold storage. The multi-purpose terminal enables minerals to be containerised and transported from Johannesburg to Durban and shipped to global markets.

Building for the next 55 years

It’s a long way from a single depot in the early 1970s, but the underlying logic has stayed the same: keep containers moving efficiently between inland supply chains and the ports that connect South Africa to global markets.

That logic is still driving expansion. Through the Grindrod Eyamakhosi Joint Venture, Grindrod secured a 25-year concession from Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) to develop and operate a new container-handling facility in the Bayvue precinct at the Port of Richards Bay.

The investment will increase the port’s container-handling capacity from 50,000 TEUs to 200,000 TEUs per year, supporting growing demand for containerised cargo in KwaZulu-Natal and the broader Southern African region.

In October 2025, Grindrod opened a new depot in Salt River, Cape Town – less than 3km from the Port of Cape Town. Leased from Transnet Properties, the site adds 5,000 TEUs of capacity and is equipped with 240 reefer plugs and on-site reefer preparation, safeguarding the integrity of key exports such as citrus and grapes on their way to market.

Phase One of the Salt River development is complete, and planning is already underway for Phase Two, which would introduce private rail sidings. Because the site is rail-linked to the Port of Cape Town, this next phase could offer exporters a more seamless logistics chain while easing pressure on Cape Town’s increasingly congested port roads.

The development is seen as a positive contributor to the Western Cape’s broader Growth for Jobs Strategy, which anticipates 220,000 net new jobs provincially, including 20,000 within the Port of Cape Town’s container logistics ecosystem. It further aims to triple exports to R450 billion by 2035.

Investing beyond the terminal

Grindrod’s container story isn’t only about steel boxes and square metres. In June 2025, the group partnered with the Hillcrest AIDS Centre Trust (HACT) to launch an expanded Learning Lab in KwaZulu-Natal’s Valley of a Thousand Hills – a refurbished computer container repurposed to teach digital and vocational skills to unemployed and out-of-school youth. Grindrod sponsored the Lab’s first cohort of students.

“This Learning Lab represents a real lifeline for many young people in our community,” says HACT CEO Candace Moolman. For Kwazi Mabaso, CEO of Grindrod Limited, the project reflects Grindrod’s purpose to touch the lives of the communities in which the organisation operates. “Through education, we are actively transforming lives and building a sustainable future for all,” he says.

A foundation built to last

From a single depot in 1971 to a national network handling dry bulk, reefer cargo, project cargo and customs warehousing, Grindrod’s container business has spent 55 years proving that infrastructure and opportunity tend to grow together. If the pace of the last few years is any indication, the next chapter looks set to be just as busy as the first.