Bigger car carriers head for Eastern Cape

Growing cargo volumes into South Africa, including throughputs through Port Elizabeth, will see some of the world’s largest car carriers calling at the port. This will create more capacity for importers and exporters wanting to move passenger and commercial vehicles, as well as high and heavy equipment in and out of South Africa, says Quentin Hill, head of Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics (WWL) Southern Africa. WWL has in the main been using Pure Car Truck Carrier (PCTC) vessels, which are usually in the 200 Mt long range. “But because of increasing cargo volumes by our customers in South Africa, and to Oceana (where the vessels are continuing to), we are seeing the need to put more capacity onto the route. “We are able to deploy bigger vessels that are more in the 230-235Mt range, which we call LCTCs (Large Car Truck Carrier) offering customers considerably more space. “We should be seeing more of this vessel type calling at SA ports in the future, and these vessels will make calls into Port Elizabeth,” he says. WWL is operating three vessels a month to Australia and New Zealand out of Port Elizabeth, and one vessel every six weeks to Europe. The frequency and the size of the vessels has opened up opportunities for other exporters and importers. “ Because of the size, capacity and flexibility of our vessels we are able to carry a very wide range of cargoes. We are able to accept motor vehicles and high and heavy cargoes on both services. “On the Oceana trade cargo loadings are subject to any particular inbound vessels’ stowage as the vessels are calling at Port Elizabeth as the first discharge port after departing from Europe, so we need to ensure we have the suitable deck heights available to match any export shipments. “But, with advance notice, we can pre-plan the loading of vessels in Europe to ensure the vessel is ready to accept and load that cargo when we arrive in PE,” he says. WWL, which offers full logistics services for vehicle movements around the world, is part of joint venture company (CAT-WWL), which is responsible for all landbased terminal management and technical services for the automotive industry in South Africa.