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.”