Although shipowners and agents
are estimating seafreight cargo
volume drops of up to 40%+ due
to the global economic crunch,
the latest Transnet National Ports
Authority (TNPA) port system
statistics reveal a more positive
picture.
To get an indication of SA’s
seafreight trade patterns, FTW
has used the TNPA figures
for full TEUs landed deepsea
(true imports) and full TEUs
shipped deepsea (true exports).
These figures exclude empty
boxes, coastwise cargoes and
transhipment volumes – and
give a true reflection of the
international cargo volume
situation as far as the SA port
system is concerned.
Comparing 2008 figures to
those for 2007 showed that the
overall trend in the movement of
full containers at SA ports was
actually a growth of 5.4% yearon-
year – with a total of
2 230 041 full boxes handled
in the calendar year of 2008
compared to 2 115 702 in 2007.
The figures read:
Full deepsea landed in 2007
was 1 250 857 TEUs, compared
to 1 228 076 TEUs in 2008 – a
drop of -1.8%.
Full deepsea shipped in 2007
was 864 845 TEUs compared to 1 001 971 TEUs in 2008 – an
increase of +15.8%.
To get an idea of the more
current trend, FTW used the
full deepsea landed and shipped
figures for October, November
and December, 2008. (See table).
Full boxes landed deepsea in
October fell by 3% month-onmonth
(m/m) in November, and
29.5% m/m in December. Full
boxes shipped deepsea in October
fell by 17.64% m/m in November,
and by 1.54% m/m in December.
The overall number of full
boxes handled fell a total of
-26.47% October to December.
FTW has to note that this
period of the year normally shows
a slowdown toward year-end, and
it is hard to say how much of the
overall drop was attributable to the
economic slowdown.
Perhaps the TNPA figures for
January will be more revealing.
Port stats positive in part
0 Comments
