The port of Cape Town is facing significant congestion, which is set to worsen this week with more adverse weather.
Maersk warned customers yesterday that “the waiting time in Cape Town has not improved as expected”, after its prior advisory, on 5 March, that the One Responsibility, deployed on the SAECS Europe-South Africa service, jointly operated by Hapag-Lloyd, Maersk, and ONE, would omit Cape Town and sail to Europe from Durban.
While the One Responsibility left Durban on Monday, en route to Coega, the One Resolution – also on SEACS – is at anchor in Cape Town, having arrived on Sunday, according to VesselFinder.
The eeSea liner database notes ten vessels are deployed on the service, with three – One Resolution, Santa Clara, and Santa Isabel – either at Cape Town or on their way to the congested port.
The Santa Isabel has been moored at Cape Town since 6 March and AIS data shows Santa Clara is due to arrive tomorrow from Durban.
Maersk noted an eight-to-10-day delay at the port, with additional strong winds expected. It told customers: “Expect vessel-bunching.”
Meanwhile, its India/Middle East-Africa Mesawa service, operated with CMA CGM, is also impacted by the delays, “particularly” the Maersk Chennai and Maersk Iyo. The Maersk Chennai is due to arrive in Cape Town tomorrow morning.
Now, to “ensure timely arrival into Jebel Ali”, the Danish carrier has decided to advance the Maersk Iyo to Coega and omit Cape Town.
To accommodate this, Maersk said all export bookings would be transferred to the Maersk Cubango, and all import containers scheduled for discharge in Coega would be rerouted to their respective destinations.
The Maersk Cubango left Tema in Ghana yesterday, according to VesselFinder.
The South Africa Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF) noted that “inclement weather, dredging, equipment breakdowns, and shortages mainly characterised port operations” this week.
“Strong winds proved to be the main operational constraint,” it added.
Between 3 and 9 March, throughput at Cape Town was 18,195 teu, but SAAFF predicted a 19% drop between 10 and 16 March, to 14,793 teu.
Cape Town is now on the second page of Linerlytica’s Port Congestion Watch, with a queue-to-berth ratio of 0.78.
Cape Town Container Terminal is operated by government-owned Transnet, which has been criticised for significantly underfunding South Africa’s logistics assets over the past few decades.
