Asia-SA trade hits a rough patch

There has been a big improvement in SA port productivity in the past year, and ships are now being turned around promptly, according to Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) marketing manager, Iain McIntosh. “When I did my review last year,” he told FTW, “port delays and often-questionable productivity levels at the port of Durban in particular, continued to bedevil burgeoning trade between Asia and South Africa. “One of the biggest challenges was getting our ships into ports and getting them out in time. We, as other carriers, were being considerably delayed and imports and exports were suffering as a result.” But, with the new Pier 1 container terminal coming up-to-speed, and the streamlining of certain other port terminal functions, Durban is not the congestion hot-spot it once was, according to McIntosh. Fortunately, the container terminals at Port Elizabeth and Cape Town have always been less problematic, he added, recalling that four cranes were once utilised simultaneously in the Mother City port to get an MOL vessel out on time. “It’s a relief that Durban now also works a lot more efficiently, and we are not seeing the pressure on all the lines visiting the port to keep up to schedule,” McIntosh added. The Asia-South Africa trade augurs well for MOL, and it no longer comes at the price of putting more pressure on the Durban port system. For Asia-South Africa growth, this trade is going through a temporary rough patch at the moment. “Yes,” he said, “there is a blip in the export market. But it is likely to be very short-term as there are many, many factors influencing this. This is not badly affecting bookings at the moment as it is a certain segment of the market and likely to recover once China and Brazil reach an accord on iron ore prices. There are other factors which, of course, are heavily clouded by current turmoil in financial markets.” As for imports it is no secret that volumes are weaker and there has been no real peak this year. “But,” McIntosh said, “the fact is that, whilst SA imports are softer today than a year ago, the volumes moving from Asia are still double what they were three-years ago – and many lines invariably flex capacity to meet peaks and troughs.” For the Asia trade, MOL operates a weekly Xiamen, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore to Durban and Maputo service called ZAX, with seven 1 500-teu ships. Also a weekly service from Cape Town and Port Elizabeth to a full range of Asian and Japanese ports direct, using an 11-vessel service (called CSW) ex the East Coast of South America (ECSA). In addition, from Asia there is a further weekly service called WA3 from Singapore to Cape Town.