Shippers shun clogged Durban for Maputo, Walvis

With congestion continuing to build up in the Port of Durban, more and more Gauteng shippers are beginning to look for alternative corridors for the import and export movement of their goods, according to Andrew Thomas, CEO of the Grindrod group’s feeder service line, Ocean Africa Container Line (OACL). The congestion seems set to grow worse, he added. And with no short-term development plans to ease it going into the future, he suggested that “it’s difficult to see how they are going to handle the future increases in volume that are predicted”. “The bulk of SA industry is based in Gauteng, and very large amounts of cargo are generated there. The shippers are getting frustrated with Durban, and this is definitely making them look elsewhere.” The two immediate alternatives that come to mind for Gauteng shippers, according to Thomas, are Maputo in Mozambique, and the new deepwater Port of Ngqura in the Eastern Cape. But there’s a lack of rail capacity to Ngqura via Port Elizabeth, and road is three times further than to Durban. The only way to develop container movement through Ngqura would need to be by rail, Thomas said. “Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) is supporting Maputo. Could they not do the same for Ngqura?” Glenn Delve, marketing director of MSC, agreed with Thomas, in that there is a lot of talk about other corridors. He saw the natural alternative for shippers on the Reef being Maputo – with much closer proximity than Durban. “But,” he said, “if that really became popular, and a lot of shippers started to move there, it would soon become as congested as Durban.” Unlike Thomas, Delve described himself as being quite happy about the rail route to Ngqura via PE. “We can move what containers we need along that line,” he said. But again, the possibility of big growth raises the fear of congestion of the current physical assets. “There’s also Walvis Bay, with shippers being able to use the Trans-Kalahari Corridor,” Delve added. “But it’s more designed for movement to and from Zambia and Zimbabwe than the Reef.” He also added Cape Town to the list. “Here, though, you’ve got the problem of the long distance, and the extra cost. “Indeed, the cost factor comes into almost all the alternative corridors.”