Bunching scourge returns Ray Smuts CAPE TOWN’S container vessel bunching scourge reared its ugly ahead again over the weekend escalating delays to around 21 hours from the previous week’s two. At mid-weekend only two vessels occupied the terminal. Came the crunch on Sunday and Monday; nine arrivals with a further two, Barrier and Suez, due later on Monday (June 23). But SA Port Operations’ Nad Govender was confident the situation would even out as the week progressed. Alan Peat THE DURBAN port congestion has hit refrigerated container (reefer) road transporters with diversions by shippers to the less congested port of Cape Town, and abysmally poor rates making it black times for Durban carriers. According to Vincent Champion, Durban-based executive of transport brokers, Kotze Blizepoint, as many as 40 containers of Mpumulanga-sourced citrus fruit a day are being diverted to Cape Town and the freight rates being demanded by shippers on the southern route are so low that trucks are actually running the route at a loss. “The citrus growers have lost their trust in the reliability of Durban as a fast export gateway for their reefers and now seem to have a distinct preference for Maputo and Cape Town,” he told FTW. “And this, I fear, is likely to continue.” But, while the numbers of diversions are sufficiently high to be hurting the bottom lines of Durban carriers, they are not putting any strain on the reefer facilities at Cape Town, according to Colin Schultz, chairman of the Western Cape Cargo Owners Association (WCCOA). “The reefer facility is running at what I’d term a normal rate for this time of the year,” he said, “with no excesses of cargo being reported. “And, remember, we are past the peak season for fruit exports through Cape Town, and have enough spare capacity to absorb what are actually small numbers of extra containers.”
