Boost for port of East London The first shipment of 120 Mercedes Benz motor cars has left East London for Australia.
The total contract, worth in excess of R11 million, comes as a result of increased efforts by the East London-based manufacturer of luxury vehicles to secure export orders as a boost for flagging local sales. The Mercedes Benz South Africa (MBSA) plant recently switched to a four-day working week - a situation that demonstrated to MBSA the dangers of a reliance on the domestic market only.
A spokesperson for MBSA said the company expects to export about 2000 motor cars this year alone - mostly C180s - and has hopes that the size of the contract will increase to 6000 units a year.
The motor vehicle carrier that called at the port recently to load this cargo experienced strong winds that delayed its entry by about 12 hours. Earlier it had been delayed by two container ships occupying the container quays where the car carrier was due to load. Once the ship had docked however, loading took a mere 90 minutes before the ship was ready to sail.
The MBSA contracts for the importation of motor components are due for renewal later this month, and according to an industry source these are being fiercely contested by several shipping lines keen to obtain this year's contract.
Knocked-down units are shipped from Germany (Mercedes Benz) and the Far East (Mitsui and Honda). These components are currently offloaded at Port Elizabeth and transhipped to East London. Among these imports have been several 45ft containers from the German parent company, each containing two fully assembled motor vehicles. A standard 40-ft. box is unable to carry two motor cars, hence the use of the larger container.
In another Ôcoup' for East London, an export order of 96 Audi motor vehicles from the Volkswagen SA plant at Uitenhage moved via the port. The reason for using East London is understood to be a reluctance by the shipping line concerned to make an additional call at Port Elizabeth.
By Terry Hutson
