A fine balancing act

Every 100 full containers
imported into Cape Town
results in at least 43 empty
export containers.
According to Zane
Simpson, a researcher from
the University of Stellenbosch
(US), this is on par with the
rest of the ports in the country
and is the estimated average
for South African ports.
“There are various reasons
for the high requirement
of empty containers but
our research points to four
particular imbalances,” he
said. “The first is seasonality
and time difference. The
export of fruits is at a different
time to the import of motor
vehicles for example.”
A second imbalance is
in the direction volume
difference. “We import more
containers than we export.
Another imbalance is the
container type difference,
in other words export fruit
is in refrigerated containers
but imports of clothing
are in normal containers.
Finally it is as a result of
container size difference.
So cars are imported in 40
foot containers, and export
processed foods in 20 foot
containers.”
Cape Town is expected to
have the slowest container
growth of SA ports over the
next 30 years.