Volumes through the Port of Durban continue to grow as it remains the gateway into southern Africa, says Natasha Lawrence, road freight manager for SACO CFR.“We continue to see an increase of cargo moving into Africa. There has been positive growth in cargo moving through Durban for weekly consolidation services into our main cross-border routes such as Zimbabwe, Zambia and Botswana.”According to Michelle Horner, SACO CFR’s trade manager, it is not just volumes into Durban that are growing, but also outbound volumes. “This, as freight rates remain at high levels and carrier capacity is tight. Although the market has seen a softening of freight rates in the past few months out of the East, the extended lockdown in Shanghai has seen carriers reducing sailings. “Demand remains high, with indications of Far East rates rising in the next few months.”Horner said moving into the peak season and with the European summer fast approaching, limited capacity was expected to become even more constrained. “ We fore see the demand for neutral consolidation services increasing going forward as cargo owners look for efficiency in cargo movement.”Horner said Durban was perfectly situated and equipped to remain the gateway into Africa. “As a company, we have ideally positioned ourselves in Durban to provide through trade into Africa using our ocean transshipment services into East and West Africa as well as our road freight service into both the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Eswatini (BLNE).”Lawrence said SACO CFR had introduced a Through Bill Tariff, which allowed its customers the f lexibility of booking direct shipments from anywhere in the world through to any SADC or BLNE country. According to Horner, Durban also serves as the main hub for cargo moving into and out of South Africa in terms of less than container load (LCL) consolidation, with regular inter-depot move (IDM) services being provided by SACO CFR from and to Durban for its Cape Town, Johannesburg, Gqeberha and East London clients. “This f lexibility of cargo routing is immensely beneficial to our clients as South African ports continue to experience vessel omissions and delays, with Durban port receiving the more reliable coverage by shipping lines.”
