Cargo volumes from Southeast Asia are on the rise as companies continue to shift product sourcing away from China. According to Kreeson Moodley, trade lane manager at SACO Shipping, to meet the growing volume demand, the company has established direct services from these countries to ensure faster transit times for customers."These origins are being firmly established within the industry and have become integral components of many forwarders' own product offerings to their clients," explained Nicholas von Flemming. "The growth we're experiencing stems from the enhancement of these direct consolidation lanes, with new clients coming on board and expanding these routes into sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands." Despite a strong focus on Southeast Asia, the Far East remains an exciting growth area for SACO, according to Von Flemming. "Geopolitical issues, combined with constrained supply chains, have forced us to become more adaptive than ever. It's a real challenge to continue providing the market with the trust and value they associate with us and our network in these fragmented t i me s."He emphasised the importance of improving information sharing and transparency with clients. "A major aspect of the trust we continue to build is maintaining a neutral end-to-end service. We achieve this through dedicated agents at both origin and destination, working in partnership with our freight forwarding cl ient s."Moodley said ongoing enhancement of services was important when dealing with the Far East. “We regularly monitor the services and offerings of shipping lines, utilising those that provide the quickest service with the fewest transhipments. Additionally, we closely track the performance of our major transhipment hubs – Hong Kong and Singapore – and remain agile by switching between them based on which one is delivering better results and faster turnaround times for cargo movement."Asked about challenges, he said hazardous cargo acceptance remained one of the biggest hurdles the company faced out of Asia. “Limitations imposed by carriers on certain commodities, combined with strict acceptance protocols, lead to delays in obtaining approval for shipping of dangerous goods.”“There is a dual challenge of both speed of hazardous cargo acceptance and a vacuum of market knowledge around hazardous cargo handling under heightened safety constraints,” added Von Flemming. Carrier schedule reliability and limited capacity have become significant challenges in recent months. "Port delays in South Africa have led to extended turnaround times for vessels returning to Asia, resulting in poor scheduling by carriers," said Moodley. "Disruptions to Red Sea services, limiting movement through the Suez Canal, have also increased transit times as vessels are now rerouted around the Cape of Good Hope. In response, carriers are redeploying larger capacity to the more profitable East-West routes, phasing in smaller vessels on the Asia-South Africa route. This reduction in capacity has placed constraints on shipping out of Asia. Additionally, a recent explosion in Ningbo, China, could have ripple effects on the acceptance of hazardous cargo from China, which is a growing concern." LV
