AGRICULTURAL exporters in the Western Cape have welcomed planned improvements to the Cape Town Port but warned that bottlenecks would jeopardise market access and financially impact the sector.
This week, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the National Ports Authority would be an independent subsidiary of Transnet as a way to improve port efficiencies across the country.
In May, the province’s busiest port was ranked 347 out of 351 in assessments done on global container port performance.
During a meeting of the Western Cape Legislature’s standing committee on Finance, Economic Development and Tourism this week, challenges plaguing the port were highlighted by the Citrus Growers Association.
The sector was said to grow its net production levels to 35 million, 15kg containers of fruit it exports yearly in the next five years from the Western Cape.
Logistics Development Manager Mitchell Brook told the committee data collected from December to June to assess productivity at the Cape Town container terminal revealed how delays resulted in vessels skipping the port.
“We saw vessels delayed in the port system for a number of days, if not weeks. From January until March, a service that comes from Europe into South Africa to the Cape Town terminal, the Coega terminal into Durban, then back to Europe – typically that vessel should take up to 10 days, but it was taking in excess of 21 days up to 30 days for these vessels to move through the port systems,” he said.
“Vessels coming south-bound are typically supposed to come into the Cape Town terminal first to off-load empty containers for the Western Cape and to take fruit that needs to be transshipped from other ports to other markets around the world. But those vessels have simply been skipping the port of Cape Town, and that has compromised access to markets, particularly for the grape season.”
Vinpro, which represents winemakers, said the challenges impacting Cape Town port affect the country’s wine exports which has a total value of R9 billion.
“The wine industry is still experiencing various operational challenges at the Cape Town port, not only with exports, but also the import and unloading of packaging materials such as wine bottles for the current season,” said the organisation’s Rico Basson.
“We cannot afford any delay as it would have a ripple effect on the distribution of the 2021 harvest, as well as the export of wine, which especially has to be prioritised now during the northern hemisphere’s summer months.
“A lack of equipment and manpower, delays due to bad weather, congestion as a result of inefficiencies, and the fact that container vessels are passing the port as it is not functioning optimally, are some of the strategic challenges that the South African wine industry is currently experiencing in terms of exports.”
Wandisa Vazi from the Cape Town Port’s Container Terminal said collaboration within the sector is needed to help improve services.
“We have planned and increased capacity in the main terminals in South Africa where we thought vessels would be going to, but shipping lines are making their own decisions, it is understandable because they are running a business and are going to do what is profitable, so they will by-pass certain terminals and ports because they make more money in the East and want to spend as little time as possible in South Africa,” she said.
“But, how do we ensure that they don’t by-pass key points in South Africa where the industry wants to be serviced?
“I understand that the Western Cape industry is in a panic because of what it went through last year, and the province was really impacted by Covid. What do we do now to ensure it does not go through the same pain it did last year?
“The container terminal in the Western Cape used to be the best operating terminal in South Africa, and what happened last year really changed the perception around operations, and we need to revive and regain our position, and we are willing to do so.”
Vazi said the Cape Town terminal had enough capacity to deal with demands at the port and currently operates with:
* Eight ship-to-shore container cranes.
* A total of 20 of the 31 Rubber Tyred Gantries (RTGs) with plans to refurbish the others.
* Equipment to handle a million twenty-foot equivalent units of cargo when forecasts for the current financial year stood at 800 000 units.
Wandi said improvements to port operations also saw average berthing delays for ships decreased from 341 hours in June last year to 36 hours.
Chairperson of the standing committee Deidré Baartman said while they welcomed improvements, it was important to urgently address challenges facing the port.
“There remains a number of issues that must be addressed if the Port of Cape Town is to be competitive, which must include the use of Transnet Freight Rail Belcon and Cape Town Container Terminal railway initiative in order to transport commodities quicker and which can be utilised 24/7,” she said.
“Maintenance on equipment, which has been delayed due to Covid-19, as well as a lack of resources at the Belcon Terminal must be addressed.”
MEC for Economic David Maynier said the announcement by Ramaphosa to separate port authority would go a long way in improving port operations.
“Corporatising the Transnet National Port Authority will open the way in the longer term for own revenue to be invested in infrastructure and maintenance and repairs and will ultimately pave the way to private sector investment in port operations which is a positive development in the port environment and deliver on the shared vision of a world-class competitive port in Cape Town,” he said.