Government investment has played a major role in the turnaround at South African ports in recent months.
by Blue Africa News
South African container ports set a new operational milestone in August, recording 18,689 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in a single day.
Achieved on Day 4, Week 20 of Transnet’s financial year, the mark surpassed the daily peaks at South African ports, which range between 12,000–15,000 TEUs, at least according to Transnet’s regular operational performance updates.
Juanita Maree, Southern African Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF) Chief Executive said the achievement is a huge boost to the country’s maritime sector, which has faced months of strain from shifting global trade dynamics and internal inefficiencies.
Government investment, she said, has played a major role in the turnaround at South African ports in recent months.
“The last 24 months have been challenging,” she said, “but with new equipment, amended processes, and collective effort, port performance is stabilizing.”
“This is not the success of one,” she added. “SAAFF members and industry partners have played a vital role in this journey.”
Maree said resilience, collaboration and determination of “our logistics community, port operators, and industry stakeholders,” had played a role in the new feat.
As South African ports reach new container handling heights, new data shows that global vessel orders for the cellular fleet, currently standing at 9.95 million TEUs, will soon surpass the 10 million mark.
Seatrade Maritime reports that the orderbook is already at historic highs, having smashed the previous record of 7.19 million TEUs in 2022.
“Since mid-2024, carriers and non-operating owners have contracted close to 600 additional new buildings. Subtracting some failed orders from that number and subtracting the numerous ships that have entered service since mid-2024, equals a net orderbook addition of around 2.80 million TEUs, pushing the global container vessel pipeline to 10 million TEUs. The orderbook-to-fleet ratio now stands at 30.4%,” reads the report.
The increase is being attributed to massive profits over the past five years, which have allowed carriers to order vessels without debt.
However, despite a rapidly growing fleet, shipping lines are said to be struggling to fill all the empty sailing slots in their schedules, while many services are short of tonnage.
Oliver Ochieng, Blue Africa News