Cape Town port: Improvements, but long road ahead…
New management, more transparency, better cooperation, and ongoing improvements have helped to turn around the backlog at the Cape Town port (CTP) for fruit exports. It is, however, still a long road ahead to get port productivity on par with the rest of the world.
In addition, February has experienced fewer wind delays than in previous years, resulting in a more fluid situation in the port. A substantial volume of export fruit did not use the CTP terminal but was trucked to Eastern Cape ports or shipped via specialized reefer vessels that do not load at the Cape Town container terminal. All, at a considerable expense to the industry.
“We are over the peaks of the table grape, stone fruit seasons and early pear varieties,” says Jacques du Preez, Hortgro General Manager of trade and markets. “For table grapes and stone fruit, the season is winding down while the apple and pear harvest is in full swing and building towards its peak.”
According to Du Preez, there is still a long way to go to return the port to its former glory days, “but it seems like we are heading in the right direction, although the damage has been done to the stone fruit industry”.
The old equipment fleet remains the biggest problem. Replacement of most of the equipment and expansion of the fleet is desperately needed. Equipment purchase lead times are also a challenge, as well as funding.
While things are better, machines still break down and need repair. The export schedule is still lagging. Reputational damage to the fruit industry will take a long time to repair. Public-private partnerships are the only route to replace equipment and get separation between the landlord Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) and operator Transnet Port Terminals (TPT).