Safmarine continually addresses imbalance challenges
IMPORT VOLUMES, particularly from the Far
East, show no sign of letting up in the short term
with Safmarine’s import figures for 2007 already
exceeding budgeted forecasts.
That’s the word from Safmarine Kwazulu-Natal
area manager, Greg Rohrs, who says import figures
are far higher than for the same period last year,
“and we’ve not yet reached peak season.”
He believes the introduction of additional
capacity (through the deployment of the Safmarine
Meru, Mulanje and Mafadi on the trade) and new
port calls on the South Africa – Far East (Safari)
route are partly responsible for this increased
business.
“The revamped Safari 1 and 2 services have
increased trade with the East by offering additional
capacity and four weekly calls to China, one of
South Africa’s fastest-growing trading partners.”
Rohrs says that while a growing number of
shipping lines has shown an interest in the trade,
Safari is the only service to offer two sailings a week
to four key Chinese ports.
And despite the strength of imports, Safmarine
continues to focus on creating a more balanced
trade with the East, regularly investigating ways of
addressing this imbalance, he said.
“Growing our exports to the East is important
because the repositioning of equipment remains
a challenge for both shippers and shipping lines,
particularly on the Safari service where export
cargo tends to be shipped in 20 foot containers and
import cargo in 40 footers.”
