Against a background of global economic growth, Mediterranean Shipping Company is upbeat about volumes for the year ahead, particularly in light of South Africa's upwardly revised economic outlook.
“Globally the economy has been growing – and we expect more of the same for 2018,” MSC’s southern African national commercial director, Glenn Delve, told FTW.
“Vessels are sailing at capacity on most major trade lanes, with just a few marginal routes like Asia outbound.” And while volumes are looking up, the same is true of port productivity, according to Delve.
“Durban seems to have recovered from the severe storm damage in October last year, and with their new straddle carriers and gantries from Ngqura, productivity has improved significantly.
“There’s probably room for improvement but they are fairly close to where they should be.” The biggest problem facing both Durban and Cape Town has been the weather, according to Delve. And while Cape Town shippers have become accustomed to the challenges presented by the ‘Cape Doctor’, Durban has been significantly affected by strong winds.
“This may have resulted in one or two vessels having to bypass Cape Town, however we have always found a solution to have a sailing in that week.” For the year ahead Delve doesn’t see much change to the line’s current service offering on its major trade lanes – Asia, Europe, Middle East and US.
“Our services are linked to customer demand. If there’s a spike in volumes we’ll bring on bigger vessels.”
