CT clogged as Durban clears

THE PROBLEM of port congestion in Durban has now disappeared below the horizon with no real delays reported in recent times.
However, it now seems
to have moved house to Cape Town where average delays are reaching worrying levels.
According to Nolene Lossau, executive director of the SA Shippers Council (SASC) - which keeps running data on port statistics - the delay figure in the previous 10 days was "not serious".
Alan Rolfe, chairman of the Association of Shipping Lines (ASL) in Durban also had no report of problematic delays.
Cape Town, though, has had a major increase in traffic volumes this year, and is suffering from the natural inefficiencies of getting close to capacity limits, according to Colin Schultz, distribution manager for major Cape shipper, SANS Fibres, and a member of the recently-formed port congestion committee.
The delays in the second week of this month (May), he told FTW, were running at an average of 48-hours.
"But this was down on the first week, when there was a planned maintenance shutdown by Eskom on the Workers' Day holiday, and average delays were up as high as 70-hours."
Schultz attributes the problem to the increase in volumes - influenced by a larger number of empties now being shipped in to the port; growing transhipment traffic; and certain lines still using Cape Town in preference to Durban.