With no immediate end in sight to the backlogs at the Durban port in the wake of devastating floods, cargo is being shifted to ports in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape.
Cargo is being shifted to ports in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape as Durban port scrambles to clear the substantial backlog in the wake of KwaZulu-Natal’s devastating floods.
Grindrod CEO Andrew Waller said on Friday that Transnet was making progress in clearing the main Bayhead Road into the harbour, but a lot of work remains to be done.
There is a backlog in imports and exports, and goods that need to be moved urgently are being rerouted to Ngqura near Gqeberha, and in some cases Cape Town.
“All the exporters and importers have already started using whatever alternatives they can. So as for imports, definitely the big ships have been calling on Ngqura [to drop off cargo] and having customers fetch imported cargo there instead of at Durban,” Waller said.
Grindrod has a number of depots near Durban where import containers are cleared and unpacked, and the empty container is then shipped elsewhere in the world to be reloaded.
Grindrod handles refrigerated containers for fruit shipped to Europe, Asia and other markets, which are beginning to ramp up ahead of the citrus season that will be in full swing by the end of May or early June “when we handle thousands of boxes a week”.
The estimated value of goods
transported daily via the
Durban port and N3 highway
— R5
For other cargo, Waller said it was a “bit tricky” to get exports that had already arrived in Durban to Ngqura by road, and this is done only if the consignment is urgent.
“Some customers will wait because to get a container from Durban to Ngqura by road can cost R40,000.”
For goods still in Johannesburg, some cargo owners have decided to wait two weeks when congestion is expected to have eased, while others are transporting by road to Ngqura.
Waller said that once in Ngqura, cargo owners have to bid for slots on ships as there are many competing customers.
“Rail is not an option as a survey needs to be completed on the route to Cato Ridge [in KwaZulu-Natal] as there has been damage to the network.”
Mike Walwyn, director of maritime affairs at the SA Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF) and chair of the Cape Town Port Liaison Forum, said waterside operations are working well, with the port handling all vessels in Durban.
But problems arise because of the limited time cargo owners have to get their containers to the terminals before a ship is loaded. Usually a cargo owner would be given “three days of stacks”, which is the time an exporter needs to deliver several thousand export containers to the correct stack, or block, for lifting onto the ship.
We need multiple access points to the container terminals to improve the fluidity of goods flowing in and out of our network
— Mike Walwyn, director of maritime affairs at the SA Association of Freight Forwarders
He said while citrus exporters will still be given three days because it is the start of the season and they are exporting perishable goods, the port is opening stacks only for a day and a half for other cargo.
Walwyn said this is to keep things moving while road access is still constrained, and to prevent a build-up of vessels outside the port.
Imported cargo has also built up in the container terminals, though Walwyn said Durban port has made improvements much faster than originally expected, and it seems the backlog will be cleared reasonably fast.
On Tuesday, Transnet appealed to cargo owners to move imported goods out of Durban port to avoid congestion.
Spokesperson Ayanda Shezi said port operations have been improving steadily with Bayhead Road, which consists of two lanes entering the container terminal and the Island View precinct, partially reopened.
Shezi said in the longer term the canal bridge will be opened up, along with the widening of Bayhead Road.
Rail operations in Durban remained suspended due to mudslides and washaways, but the container rail shuttle service between the container terminal and Bayhead terminal resumed on Monday.
“Contingency plans are in development, and repair of the railway line is a priority. We expect to resume single operations in the next seven weeks,” Shezi said.
Separately, SAAFF said in response to questions the floods highlighted that “we need multiple access points to the container terminals to improve the fluidity of goods flowing in and out of our network”.
It said there was an urgent need for investment in infrastructure and the adoption of technology as part of a concerted effort to improve efficiency at the port.
SAAFF said it was impossible to quantify the direct — and larger — indirect financial implications to the logistics industry of the delays caused by the floods.
According to the industry, R4.5bn worth of goods is transported via the Durban port and the N3 highway every day, and about two-thirds of all containerised cargo moving through SA ports goes through Durban.
In addition, on average 135,479 tonnes of non-containerised cargo passes through Durban every day. Of Durban port cargo, about 92% goes via road — on the N3 and the north-south corridor — and about 8% via rail.
SAAFF said the numbers spoke to the huge potential effect any delays could have.
Such delays in the logistics network can amount to about R100m a day in direct costs, while the indirect affect is impossible to quantify.
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