As if nothing has returned to normal since Covid-19, the past year feels like it has been an exercise in new abnormalities for the logistics and supply chain industry.
You may as well say: If it’s cargo, there is likely to be an embargo, in one way or another.
For more than a year now EU-Asia sea trade has been disrupted by Houthi rebels attacking maritime traffic in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, stripping the lion’s share of ocean freight out of the Suez Canal.
Rerouting vessels around the Cape of Good Hope has become standard procedure and will likely continue.
Still, on the international scene, Donald Trump seems ready to throw an even larger spanner in the works when he settles into the Oval Office on January 20.
At this point, trade professionals may wonder why they’re still bothering, but once you’re in this business, it’s for life.
Freight, certainly, is not for the faint-hearted. Just ask sector stakeholders operating in the sub-Saharan region, as if international challenges aren’t bad enough.
If something can go wrong, south or north of the Tropic of Capricorn, it most likely will.
Of late it’s been Mozambique and its post-election protests, often stopping any cargo from moving through the Lebombo-Ressano Garcia border posts on the N4 Corridor.
The Port of Maputo, which was a shining beacon of throughput accomplishment until recently, has been turned into a port of uncertainty.
That has certainly become the new normal – uncertainty.
One thing that’s certain, however, is that Freight News (FTW) will continue to bring the most accurate and current reportage from the logistics and supply chain industry to its readers.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank our loyal supporters, be they advertisers or readers, for their continued backing of South Africa’s oldest news source for the freight community.
We thank our sources, who keep us on our toes with breaking news.
As for 2025, we’re planning a few interesting things, especially in relation to South Africa's ports – so watch this space.
We close today until January 6.
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Here’s wishing everyone a well-deserved break and a promising start to 2025.
