Durban stands to lose citrus to Maputo

There is a determined effort being made by the Citrus Growers’ Association (CGA) of Southern Africa to redirect a lot of the citrus cargo currently being shipped out of Durban to the Mozambique port of Maputo, according to Mitchell Brooke, logistics development manager of the CGA. “Maputo Port is considered a strategic development area for citrus exports from the northern region,” he told FTW. “High production, transport and shipping cost increases are imminent for 2011, but the northern region is better aligned to Maputo geographically to reduce the cost of transportation. “Maputo port can potentially facilitate over 400 000 pallets of citrus fruits, but currently only 60 000 pallets are routed through the port. The extra distance to the Durban port is costing the northern region an additional R80 million in transport charges, and an average of R3.00 per carton can be saved by using Maputo.” Looking at the geographical production of southern African citrus in terms of Maputo, Brooke added, the areas of Malelane, Jeppes Reef, Karino, Nelspruit, Hazyview, Hoedspruit and Letsitele are deemed to be the Maputo Citrus Corridor. “This,” he said, “is due to the reduced cost of transport to the Maputo port over the Durban port for these areas. They should be deemed to be the strategic growth areas to attract cargo to the Maputo port.” The Maputo citrus corridor produces 0.6 million tonnes of export citrus annually, according to the 2010 estimate – which constitutes 63% of the entire northern region’s citrus production. “If the Far East (excluding Japan and steri markets), Middle East, Europe, UK, Russia and Mediterranean markets were serviced on direct calls from Maputo, it is evident that there could be a demand to move 0.5 mt of export citrus from Maputo annually. The Maputo Citrus Corridor is transporting, on average, an extra 480 kilometres to Durban compared to Maputo. The northern region transports 14.75 m truck kilometres to Durban and only 0.5 m truck kilometres to Maputo. “It has been determined that this is what is costing the northern region’s growers that R80 m each year,” Brooke said. “Looking at an overview of the comparison between loading a container in Maputo vs Durban, it is evident that due to the current exchange rate (R6.7/ USD), the Maputo port is currently a favourable option to load containers – with Europe and Russia to be serviced weekly by the break-bulk options, which are extensive.