Sitting at the southern tip of Africa with two major ports and a long coastline puts South Africa in an opportune position as maritime vessels divert from conflict waterways in the Middle East.
But is the country and its state-owned entity tasked with logistics, Transnet, leveraging off this increase in sea traffic around the Cape of Good Hope?
Lamentably not, says Casey Sprake, chief market strategist at AG Capital.
Writing in her latest ‘Market Update’ on LinkedIn, she says: “The Cape route, though longer and more expensive, is now seen as the only safe option.
“Yet South Africa's port authority paints a more cautious picture.
“Transnet National Ports Authority has noted that, despite global carriers reassessing routes following the Hormuz closure, there has been no notable spike in berthing requests at local ports, including Cape Town – suggesting that while significantly more ships are rounding the Cape, few are actually stopping.”
- Read the rest of this opinion piece in our ‘Columns’ section.
