Crane breakdowns and adverse weather are exacerbating delays at South Africa’s ports, despite a recent improvement in container throughput at its main gateways.
Logistics crisis
The South African logistics crisis has been escalating for years, and a lack of government investment into supply chain infrastructure has left the country’s ports, railways and roads extremely susceptible to disruption.
“The increasing quantities of cargo handled – in conjunction with the monthly reported volumes from TNPA – for our container industry are starting to indicate that we may have turned a corner, as far as port operations go,” said SAAFF.
Areas of concern
SAAFF highlighted areas of concern such as the number of vessels at anchor off Durban, the queue-to-berth ratio of containers and the ongoing equipment shortages and breakdowns.
Maersk today advised customers that the wait time at Durban Pier 1 had deteriorated to five days, from the previous two-to-three, and also announced that Durban Pier 2 was seeing “productivity well below target”, and recorded a wait time there of 22-28 days.
Meanwhile, Transnet has also released a public consultation document for the reform of its rail freight network, which contains a range of proposals, including establishing service level agreements between TNPA as infrastructure manager and private rail freight operators.
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Source : Loadstar
