With freight rates for refrigerated containers (reefers) carrying US beef, pork and poultry to Asia set to climb, according to the Transpacific Stabilisation Agreement (TSA), will there be a positive spin-off for southern African meat exporters in SA and Namibia? The members of the TSA westbound section are APL, CSCL, CMA CGM, Cosco, Evergreen, Hanjin, Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai Merchant Marine, “K” Line, Maersk, MSC, NYK, OOCL, Yang Ming Marine and Zim. And it’s tight capacity supply and rising demand that have persuaded this westbound section to think along the lines of a rates increase of US$700 per forty-foot (12 metre) container (FEU), effective July 1. A rate hike that they further justify as most rates for so-called ‘protein’ cargo are at their lowest in five years, said the TSA. That’s a significant increase, and one that will exert considerable pressure on the US meat exporters’ price-competitiveness. And will it benefit southern African meat exporters? “Yes indeed,” said Mark Luff, commercial director at Excellent Meats International and a member of the executive committee of the Association of Meat Importers and Exporters (Amie). Because of the huge numbers of empty import containers in SA – all of which need to be repositioned to the Asian export source countries – SA meat exporters already get very good discounted rates to the Far East. “This proposed rates hike on US meat export reefer boxes will obviously extend the product price advantage we get from lower freight costs,” Luff told FTW. “It could also have a possible spin-off because we already export lots to the Far East – and are therefore well-known as an alternative source.” But the benefit will only apply to beef exports and to SA, he added. “There is no poultry or pork going from SA to the Far East,’ Luff said. “And Namibia’s main meat export market is Europe, not Asia.”
