Durban handles 3% more containers in 2010

Most of the December 2010 port performance figures are much healthier than 2009, but none are hitting the high double-digit levels of some of the international ports. Some of these foreign ports have boomed this year over last. But they all tend to be in South East Asia and the Far East. The slump there was nowhere near as severe as in the worst hit areas in the trading world, and the big increases were to be expected, as these “tigers of trade” are carving into everyone else’s export trade and their gross domestic products are jumping through the roof. The latest figures on SA port activities released by Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) show that almost all cargo categories have been on the increase since 2009. Total bulk cargo handled at the SA port system in December 2010 was 14 575 520-tonnes – up 3.7% on the 14 051 060-t of December 2009. Richards Bay, the coal export port, was a big performer. It exported 6 979 919-t of coal in December last year, a whacking 1.04-million (17.6%) up on the 5 933 709-t of the December in the year before. Saldanha Bay, the iron ore exporter, had an equal percentage gain in traffic. It moved 4 630 337-t, up 17.6% on the 3 937 237-t of December 2009. The poor performer in the bulk port league was Durban. It handled 2 159 612-t in December 2010, a big drop of -36% – or 1.2-million tonnes – over the 3 372 671-t it moved in December 2009. Breakbulk cargo movement was also up 16.2%, with 1 365 408-t in the last month of 2010 and 1 174 714-t in 2009. The two performers here are Durban and Richards Bay. Durban handled 680 820-t in December 2010, up a whopping 38.8% on the 490 329-t of the previous December. RB was less of a star, with 466 814-t handled in 2010, only up 4.8% on 2009. A total of 305 8498-TEUs was handled by the container ports, up 9.9% on the 278 192 of December 2009. Far and away the main port participant is Durban. In December 2010, it handled a total of 202 459-TEUs, up 3.9% on the 194 831-TEUs of December 2009. Of these it moved 152 854 full boxes, up 1.1% on the 151 144 of the previous December. But the rather disappointing overall state of play is somewhat lessened when you compare the import and export moves. The port landed (imports) 82 418 full TEUs in December 2010, actually -1.4% down on the 83 621-TEUs of December 2009. But it shipped (exported) 70 436 full TEUs last December, up 4.3% on the 67 523-TEUs of December 2009.