Seafreight stats reflect positive 2011

Despite a global trade slowdown, SA seafreight movement in 2011 showed all-round gains over the previous year – except on containerised exports, according to the annual port activity statistics just issued by Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA). Total bulk exports rose a relatively slim 4.4% to 189 121 236 tonnes for the year, compared to 181 101 297t in 2010. Of this, 53 255 310t (up 12.3% on the 47 411 297t in 2010) were bulk exports from the Port of Saldanha – best known as the iron-ore port. While Saldanha also exports other minerals like zircon, pig iron, titanium slag and lead concentrates, Mark Koen of bulk shipping specialists, Island View Shipping (IVS), assured FTW that “the majority” was iron ore. At the same time, 76 012 606t (up a mere 1.3% over the 74 986 229t of 2010) were exports through the coal port of Richards Bay. Again, RB ships other minerals, but SA’s coal exports for calendar year 2011 rose by an equally slim 1.9% (or 1.2-million tonnes) to 64.6mt from the previous year. Breakbulk cargo, meantime, increased by a healthy 18.7% in 2011, rising to 16 045 903t from 13 517 774t in the previous year. The containerised traffic through the six commercial ports around the SA coastline was also up on 2010. The total number of TEUs handled was 4 392 791, up 9.5% on the 4 012 475 TEUs of 2010. The number of full boxes was 3 183 480 TEUs for the year, up 8.1% on the 2 994 728 in 2010. But these figures for full boxes also included coastwise and transhipment traffic. For the totals of SA exports and imports, the relevant figures are those for full TEUs shipped or landed deepsea. And these reveal that the ports landed a total of 1 356 379 full import TEUs in 2011, up 10.8% on the 1 223 580 of 2010. But the figures for SA exports were not such good news. The total for 2011 was 944 227 TEUs, down by a marginal 1.37% on the 957 364 TEUs exported in 2010 – but down just the same. As usual, the main port for TEU traffic was Durban, handling a total of 2 718 975 TEUs (made up of full, empty, coastwise and transhipment) last year, up on the 2 553 392 TEUs of 2010. Those landed totalled 1 377 138 (1 287 365), while those shipped totalled 1 355 837 (1 266 027). Durban’s imports and exports (mostly from the SA industrial powerhouse of Gauteng) were similar to those for all the ports. Full boxes landed deepsea (imports) totalled 1 003 867 in 2011, up 11.1% on the 903 525 of 2010. But exports were 2.0% down, at 624 535 in 2011 compared to 637 568 in 2010.