With the vast majority of Middle East vessel traffic rerouting around the Cape of Good Hope (CoGH) because of war risk in the Suez Canal and the worsening impact of the Persian Gulf conflict, the question remains – is the Port of Cape Town benefiting?
“The short answer is no,” says Lance Pullan of ocean freight data platform, Linernet.
“In fact, Cape Town has actually seen a decrease in total vessel calls.”
The country’s geo-strategic location in relation to rerouting requirements has resulted in increased vessel calls elsewhere along the country’s coastline, he says.
“The majority of the other South African ports do seem to be benefiting, particularly the Port of Ngqura.”
“This is most likely due to its deeper draft, but also probably due to container vessels diverting from the Port of Cape Town because of wind delays. The impact of the wind does seem to be a lot worse this year.”
Regarding concerns expressed in certain industry circles that there isn’t enough data to provide more vessel traffic visibility, especially about whether CoGH traffic has increased, Pullan says: “People may be looking in the wrong places.”
He says data by Transnet National Ports Authority shows what is happening at each and every port, but what’s important is how the data is unpacked.
As stated by Dr Jacob van Rensburg, head of Research and Development at the South African Association of Freight Forwarders, Pullan said stakeholders should look at data from sites like Marine Traffic to keep abreast
AIS tracking via such sites provides a fair and accurate digital reflection of what’s happening, inasmuch as ocean freight is concerned.
It seems the devil isn’t necessarily in the detail but in data interpretation.
When Linernet was launched, it was one of the points raised by Pullan – making navigating through all the data easier.
