Port delays cost perishable shippers R1800 per TEU

Port delays in Cape Town and Durban could be adding up to R1800 per TEU to fruit exports to the EU, according to the findings of a recent case study undertaken by the Citrus Growers’ Association of Southern Africa recently. And this is impacting significantly on the global competitiveness of the industry, said CGA manager Mitchell Brooke. The study, which examined how port efficiency was influencing schedule accuracy and freight costs, revealed that vessel delays at the ports were contributing to an additional 10% of total bunker costs levied on shippers. “Looking at the impact of idle time at ports and port berth costs, and assuming an overall 10% contribution to all-in freight costs, we could assume that port delays are costing shippers up to R1800 per TEU for EU shipments,” he said. Brooke, who focused his case study on the Saecs consortium of Maersk Line, Safmarine, Deutsche Afrika-Linien and Mitsui OSK Lines, as they represent 30% of fruit exports, found that the Saecs group of vessels spent an average 6.3 days idle in South African ports and another 1.3 days on average idle in European ports. “Therefore 15% of the Saecs group vessels’ voyage time is spent idle over and above what is planned. So ten days planned versus an average 17.4 days unplanned.” And in order to make up on unplanned idle time vessels increase their deepsea speed significantly – at a significant cost.