Improvements at Cape Town Container Terminal

Stonefruit growers and exporters as well as logistics service providers have recently reported that export activities in Cape Town’s Container Terminal (CTCT) have shown a marked improvement.

These reports have been confirmed by the grape industry, with growers and exporters told about a consistent improvement in productivity so far this season.

Antoinette van Heerden, logistical affairs manager at the Fresh Produce Exporters’ Forum, told the Sati marketing committee meeting that this season’s decrease in windbound hours had been a major contributing factor to the improved performance.

The additional 72 operational hours over Christmas and New Year also increased productivity.

“Productivity measured in terms of gross crane moves per hour (GCH) has increased compared with the same time last year,” she said.

”During week 2 the average GCH was 15, compared with an average of 12 for the same time last year.”

The port experienced 46 windbound hours in total during the first two weeks of January compared with 130 hours during the same period last year.

Logistics service providers say less wind disruption plays an enormous role in smooth operations.

Van Heerden noted that the Cape Town Container Terminal was now operating eight out of nine ship-to-shore (STS) cranes and 23 out of 24 rubber-tyre gantry (RTG) cranes.

One non-operational STS crane was still awaiting delivery of spare parts which were due to arrive during Week 3.

“CTCT is preparing for the delivery of the first batch of nine new RTGs which are expected to arrive at the end of February and be operational from June 2025,” she said.

Sati said that up to week 2, some 32.33mn cartons were inspected for export, which is about 5 per cent less than the same time last year.

A total of 24.5mn cartons were exported up until week 2, which is 39 per cent more year-on-year.

“The Northern Provinces region expects total inspection volumes for the season to fall about 500,000 cartons short of their estimate, however, the national crop estimate remains unchanged at 76.4mn cartons inspected for export,” the industry body explained.

Bottlenecks could arise over the next few weeks as volumes peak, Sati said, with some production regions noting certain middle-to-late varieties ripening more quickly than usual.

Some parts of the Orange River region expect packing to conclude by week 3. The Northern Provinces region expects to conclude packing by week 4.

The top three exported varieties for week 2 were Sweet Globe, Sweet Celebration, and Sable Seedless.

Up to week 2, 81 per cent of volumes were exported to the EU and the UK, and 10 per cent to North America.