Focus will fall on waning transhipment volumes

CAPE TOWN container terminal has handled
97 128 TEUs since the start of the perishable season in December, about 10 300 down on
the previous year and attributed largely to the late start of the grape season. Total throughput for the current financial year was 385 00 containers (550 000TEU).
Significantly, while the number of vessels calling at the container terminal has dropped from around 22 vessels to 15 a week, parcel sizes are up considerably from an average of
250 to 450 or 500.
Turning to financial performance, key accounts manager Richard van Schalkwyk says: “We budgeted for 4% more than the previous year, so real growth probably stands at 8% and we expect to be another three to four percent up in the year ahead in line with the growth rate projected for the Western Cape.”
Van Schalkwyk says an area of focus in
the year ahead will be winning more transhipment cargo from West Africa,
South America and Europe.
“Transhipment used to comprise about 30% of our business but it has dropped to 18%. This is due partly to poor productivity in South African ports and shipping lines using other ports for this purpose, so getting back to the original 30% would translate to about 120 000 transhipments.”