More vessels have bypassed South African ports so far this year than ever before, according to John Mac Donald, the regional reefer manager for CMA CGA. Weather issues and congestion, he stressed, had forced lines to reconsider having to wait up to three days at a time before they could berth. Just focusing on Durban, supposedly still Africa’s premier port but with burgeoning ports like Maputo and Dar es Salaam breathing down its neck, Mac Donald expressed scepticism about how long it could still lead. “The reality of the matter is that there are a lot of issues in Durban. People have been suspended because they are suspected of corruption and the infrastructural upgrades that were supposed to have happened are delayed.” To make matters worse, in the wake of this corruption, indecision seems to be the order of the day. “Ask anyone what has happened since, what their plans are for upgrades to go ahead, and they can’t tell you.” And yet many exporters still preferred Durban over a port like Maputo, Mac Donald said. Twisting a famous quote about repeating the same behaviour yet expecting different results, the shipping expert of 22 years said: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and it’s something we see every day in business and in the wider world.” Considering his specialisation in cold storage, Mac Donald commented on the “baffling practice” of exporting citrus from Letsitele near Tzaneen via Durban and not Maputo, a port that is literally less than half the 977 kilometres down the N3. “We need to change our mindsets,” he said. What’s happening in the fruit industry is but one example of how logistics costs can be incurred because of an unwillingness to change. “If we don’t change we stagnate. Change in an inefficient environment brings about innovation, so why do we do the same thing over and over?” Change in an inefficient environment brings about innovation. – John Mac Donald
