It has been another challenging export season for deciduous fruit producers that move produce through the container terminal operated by Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) at the Port of Cape Town.
But the terminal’s performance during February, while still falling short of target, shows that the tide may slowly be turning.
Anton Kruger, CEO of the Fresh Produce Exporters’ Forum, told Business Day on Tuesday that since the appointment of new leadership at Transnet — including that of Michelle Phillips as CEO — they have seen improvements in operations and the daily communication with the industry.
Poor performance at the container terminal at the start of the season meant that the industry would again suffer billions of rand in losses due to volumes that could not be shipped and the impact of longer shipping times on the quality of fruit when it reached its destination, he said.
“The losses incurred by the table grape and stone fruit industries combined are about R2.5bn,” he said, referring to the 2023/24 season. This is about equal to losses suffered due to port inefficiencies in the previous season.
“We appreciate the new culture that the CEO established and are confident that this willingness to work with the industry transparently should lead to continuous improvements,” Kruger said.
The SA Association of Freight Forwarders estimated that during the peak of the port challenges towards the end of 2023 the collective economic impact of the slowdown in performance was costing SA R120m per day.
Information supplied by the Western Cape finance and economic opportunities spokesperson shows that the average turnaround time for vessels at the terminal was down from about 14 days in February 2023, to about 9.5 days in February this year. This was, however, still far from the required target of four days.
Time improved
The terminal also managed to move about 14,600 containers per week in February against an average of 10,600 containers in February 2023, but this was only after a deterioration in performance in January.
Similarly, the average waiting time for vessels at anchor improved from about six days in February 2023 to 5.3 days in February 2024, against a target of one day.
Final figures for March are not yet available, but by the middle of the month, average performance for vessels waiting and turnaround times showed a marked improvement from a year ago.
“In November last year, just ahead of the peak table grape export season, we sounded the alarm that the significant inefficiencies at the [container terminal at the] Port of Cape Town would lead to an export crisis, comprising critical market share for our proudly Western Cape fruit, costing economic growth and job creation in the province,” said Mireille Wenger, Western Cape MEC for finance & economic opportunities.
While there have been some improvements at the port, particularly the utilisation of the night shift, the risk of a crisis at the port remains as SA heads into the citrus export season, Wenger said.
“Citrus growers in the Western Cape are anticipating an increase in citrus export volumes, but the Port of Cape Town is yet to move 16,000 containers per week, against their target of 20,000 per week at any point this year so far.
“It is critical that a detailed and dedicated plan is put into place, specifically for the citrus season, to make sure that our sought-after exports reach their destination on time. We will continue working with our colleagues at Transnet to achieve this,” Wenger said.
Harvest
Business Day reported last week that though the citrus industry expected a larger harvest this year than in 2023, the industry was uncertain how shipments of the fruit might be affected by possible delays and congestion of SA’s ports.
According to the Citrus Growers’ Association (CGA), in previous seasons congestion at some of SA’s largest container terminals, including at the ports of Cape Town and Durban, hampered growth in the sector.
Paul Hardman, COO of the CGA, told Business Day at the time that there was some initial improvement at the Durban container terminal at the beginning of the year, but they were concerned about whether these gains had been maintained, and similarly at the container terminal in Cape Town efficiency levels were below par.
Transnet Port Terminals said in a statement that it was committed to making SA’s citrus export season a success. It was implementing interventions to support increased export volumes, including allocating dedicated lanes for refrigerated containers at the gates to container terminals in KwaZulu-Natal.
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