Inefficiency at the country’s ports is an ongoing headache for South Africa's agricultural sector. Recent reports reveal that equipment breakdowns have disrupted operations significantly.In August, truck backlogs outside the Port of Durban became a pressing issue, with vehicles experiencing average wait times of up to 16 hours to collect containers. This situation underscored the logistics utility’s struggle to handle increased container volumes, a problem further aggravated by frequent straddle carrier breakdowns. These delays have severely affected the management of container stacks at Durban Container Terminal (DCT) Pier 2 in particular.The Port of Cape Town has also faced challenges. At the beginning of the year, the deciduous fruit industry encountered substantial delays at this port, which had costly repercussions for farming businesses. “The collaboration between Transnet, organised business and the agriculture sector stakeholders to improve efficiency at South African ports must continue,” said Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South A f r ic a (Agbiz), emphasising the importance of efficient logistics as the lifeblood of agriculture exports. He told Freight News continuous collaboration to ensure improvements was the only viable path forward. “We are already seeing the benefits of the improvements in the agricultural sector through the rise in the value of exports.”This is substantiated by data from Trade Map, which found that in the first quarter of the year, agricultural exports increased by 6% year-on-year (y-o-y), reaching $3.1 billion. This increase is the result of a relatively higher volume and price of exported products. The products leading the export list were grapes, apples and pears, maize, wine, apricots, sugar, wool, fruit juices, peaches and apricots, amongst others. Agricultural imports, on the other hand, amounted to $1.6bn, down 4% y-o-y. “The decline resulted from slightly lower volume and prices of major products that South Africa imports, like wheat and rice, whose prices cooled off at the start of this year from the rally we saw last year,” said Sihlobo.Overall, agriculture recorded a trade surplus of $1.4bn. This was up by 20% from the first quarter of 2023.“The first quarter exports are encouraging,” said Sihlobo. “Still, the subsequent quarters may show a mild performance due to a decline in grain exports, a major part of the exports in the first quarter and much of last year.”He said it was critical for the country to remain focused on improving the logistical infrastructure efficiency and its export market expansion mission for the agricultural sector. “There is a need for increased investment in port and rail infrastructure and improving roads in the farming towns that continue to constrain the sector's growth.”
