30th May 2022
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News on the home front…
South African Ports
DURBAN PORT
KwaZulu Natal once again experienced inclement weather, with severe weather warnings being issued across the province from Friday 20th May through the weekend. Heavy rainfall and high winds were experienced in Durban, with localized flooding in the area.
Durban terminals were wind bound for most of the weekend.
Prior to the storms over the weekend, there was significant improvement over vessel berthing waiting times. As reported on Friday 20th May, the vessel waiting times as follows:
- Pier 1 : 0 days
- Pier 2 : 0 days
- Durban Point : 0 days
CAPE TOWN PORT
Cape Town terminals are operating as usual; with high traffic volumes being reported into and out of the terminals.
Cape Town CFS is seeing high cargo volumes; operations are proceeding as normal.
Vessel berthing waiting times:
- CTCT : 1 – 2 days
- CTMPT : 3 – 4 days
PORT ELIZABETH / COEGA PORT
Port operations are proceeding as normal.
Port Elizabeth CFS operations are proceeding smoothly and all IDMs are running as scheduled.
Vessel berthing waiting times:
- Coega : 0 days
- Port Elizabeth : 0 days
Durban business in ‘critical condition’ after weekend floods
Durban businesses are in a “critical condition” following the latest flash floods that hit the city and the KwaZulu-Natal North coast, devastating homes, businesses and infrastructure at the weekend.
Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry CEO Palesa Phili said the latest heavy rains had halted the recovery process in a city where businesses were already “hanging on by a thread”. Phili called on the government to swiftly repair infrastructure to improve efficiency and minimise operational disruptions.
“The high-intensity rainfall over the last two days has unfortunately grounded the restoration and disaster recovery efforts that were slowly being implemented in and around the city of eThekwini,” Phili said.
The devastating rains come after April’s floods that caused severe damage to infrastructure, homes and businesses, and claimed the lives of more than 400 people.
Major road and highway networks were again flooded this weekend, including the M7, M13, Umgeni road, Higginson highway, and the South Durban Basin.
“This latest flash of rain, which can only be described as distressing, poses a serious and real challenge for businesses in eThekwini as businesses are already fragile and are hanging on by a thread,” Phili said.
Businesses were committed to rebuilding in the province, however, the private sector needed the help of the government to find sustainable long-term solutions, she added.
Controversial changes to cold treatment of Southern African citrus pushed through
An extraordinary session of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (SCoPAFF) of the European Commission yesterday approved changes to the cold treatment for oranges imported from third party countries where false codling moth Thaumatotibia leucotreta is present, Intercitrus, the Spanish citrus growers association, has reported. It predominantly affects South Africa and Zimbabwe.
The Citrus Growers’ Association of South Africa has for the moment no comment on these reports.
The Spanish Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, yesterday in a tweet called it a “great step forward for our producers”, thanking the European Commission for their work.
Previously it had been reported that Spain expressed its displeasure that the measure had not been approved last Friday and Minister Planas had personally insisted that the European Union takes an immediate decision on cold treatment.
The decision will be processed urgently, Intercitrus continues, “so that it enters into force before the end of June”.
The South African citrus industry had vigorously contested the proposed measures, calling into question the scientific grounds of a harsher cold protocol while arguing it would be detrimental to fruit quality.
It repeatedly put forward the case that its own comprehensive false codling moth management system (FMS), spanning from orchard through to shipping, had been effective in managing the risk of the pest which became a quarantine pest in 2018.
South Africa had argued that some of the FCM interceptions made last year on the 800,000 tonnes of citrus sent to the EU was as a result of the breakdown in the cold chain due to the civil unrest in July, but that their research into the pest and their approach to its management, remained sound.
Two options available by next year, says Spanish professional body
According to Intercitrus, the European Commission will demand a precooling at 5 degrees at the port of departure and a treatment in transit at between -1 and 2 degrees for 25 days.
“And by 2023 it will be allowed to choose between two options: a cold treatment between -1 and 0 degrees for 16 days or another between -1 and 2 degrees for 20 days.”
In both cases, oranges for export to the EU would be required to precool at 0 degrees and 2 degrees, respectively, the organisation states.
The current protocol for South African oranges is a 24-day protocol with shipping options based on continuous orchard and packhouse monitoring for FCM larvae. The FMS as currently implemented by South Africa is a “set-point” type of treatment.
News from around the world…
MSC, Hapag-Lloyd to skip some US, Canada port calls in June
Michael Angell, Associate Editor | May 23, 2022 4:06PM EDTC will blank five sailings from Asia to
“Ocean carriers are skipping some calls to Canada and the US East Coast and shifting arrival dates in June as North American port congestion and delays force liners to rework schedules.
Mediterranean Shipping Co. said in a Monday schedule update that its Eagle service from Asia, which 2M Alliance partner Maersk offers as its TP1 service, will not call Canada’s Prince Rupert and Vancouver ports during the second and fourth week of June.
Shanghai Port Rebounds as Lockdown Loosens But Backlog Remains
Daily operations at Shanghai’s port have almost fully recovered from the effects of the city’s Covid-19 lockdown, though the backlog from disruptions to the port and nearby factories will likely continue to cause shipping congestion well into the year. “The Chinese lockdowns are hitting a global container distribution system that is already severely stressed and facing reduced capacity due to pervasive congestion,” Drewry said in a recent report. “Even if lockdowns were to end today, the predictability and capacity of the container distribution system would be jeopardized during summer peak season.”
New service inaugurated with maiden Maputo vessel call
“The Oceana was warmly welcomed and brought in by our agency team, Maputo Port Development Company, (MPDC) and DP World Maputo.” Please contact your CSM for a logistics solution tailormade for your fruit.
DRC/Zambia crossing closed to clear congestion
Cross-border hauliers serving the Copperbelt route into the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are advised that the Kasumbalesa Border Post has been closed for transits for three days.
This emerged yesterday, according to the Federation of East and Southern African Road Transport Associations (Fesarta).
The development comes after the recent secondment of Zambia Revenue Authority executive Levy Simatimbe to the congested crossing.
Amex
Terminals Updates:
Due to increased volume and labor shortage, most terminals are experiencing congestion issues, including Los Angeles/Long Beach, Savannah, Charleston, Miami, Houston, and Seattle.
Each month, high cargo volumes continue to enter the U.S., with most North American ports facing berthing congestion.
U.S. East Coast:
New York/New Jersey: Vessel wait time up to 10 days due to high import volume, severe port congestion and fog during the weekend.
UK, NWC & MED
Services from the Mediterranean regions, i.e. Spain, Italy and Turkey are experiencing delays due to feeder vessel capacity, schedule delays, port congestion at origin ports as well as transshipment hubs of Algeciras, Las Palmas and Sines.
We have noted an improvement on transshipment services out of Las Palmas. Carriers have advised that additional vessels have been phased into the service, with these vessels having increased capacity. This has resulted in some reduction of the extreme backlog that has been previously experienced.
AFRICA EXPORT SERVICES
Stack dates in South African ports are erratic and we do encourage close communication with our export teams for changes and updates to scheduled loading and sailing dates.
East Africa – Severe congestion continues in the ports of Mombasa and Dar Es Salaam
Carrier schedules into East Africa remain volatile, with a high number of vessel changes announced by the shipping line. There are an increasing number of vessel omissions on this service; resulting in rolled bookings. These services are closely monitored and container stuffing is planned according to available vessels scheduled by the shipping lines.
West Africa – Capacity remains constrained on services into West Africa, with severe delays being experienced in all ports and on all trades.
Today is Trivia Thursday…todays question…
