Coastwise traffic bucks the global trend

Although there is a global slow-down in seafreight traffic volumes – particularly on the Asia-Europe trade – coastwise traffic in the Southern African region is proudly on the up-and-up, according to Andrew Thomas, CEO of Ocean Africa Container Line (OACL). “In terms of our trading range – Angola, Namibia, SA, and Mozambique – the volumes are continually growing,” Thomas told FTW. This is particularly true of Angola, where there’s a big growth in cargo, and as a result strong seafreight rates. However, Thomas added, he had to repeat the on-going moan – that infrastructure at the Angolan ports was weak, and vessel turnaround very slow in a congested environment. The movement of containerised cargo between SA’s domestic port system – particularly sugar and paper from Durban to Cape Town, and wheat and malt on the return voyage – “is steady”, according to Thomas. “There’s a continuous growth year-by-year on this domestic scene,” he said. At Mozambique’s ports the bulk of the imports are consumer goods from the Far East. But, according to Thomas, the main weight of traffic is transit cargoes in and out of the land-bound markets of Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi. “And,” he said, “despite the current problems in Zimbabwe, these markets continue to grow, reflected in an increase in the containerised trade we carry.” OACL also has a big investment in 850 new containers from China. “We bring these in as standard general purpose (GP) containers,” said Thomas, “and have them converted to be able to load bulk products into the boxes as well. “With all the conversions engineered in SA, it can be seen as a value-added element for the local economy.”