Cape Town Port sees record week for citrus exports, but tariff clouds on horizon

A notable week in July saw a record citrus fruit export volume leaving the Port of Cape Town, signaling an impressive turnaround in Port performance. There are currently three million citrus cartons ‘on the water’, of which1,2-million are on their way to the US. 

These figures have been steadily climbing for weeks, with the record milestone receiving a special mention at July’s Port Liaison Forum meeting. It speaks to significant improvements in port efficiency, particularly at the container terminal which exceeded its targets by a considerable margin.  The container terminal saw 19 000 container moves a week in mid-July, well above the targeted 14 000.

The PLF commended Transnet National Ports Authority for operational improvements which enabled the record figure. They said the success was also testimony to greater cooperation between PLF stakeholders, which include  the Western Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism, the Citrus Growers Association, business sector representatives, and export bodies.  

Despite this success, port stakeholders agree there is still much room for improvement, particularly if Cape Town wishes to reverse an overall downturn in the number of vessels calling at the Port.   Nine additional rubber tyred gantry cranes are due to come online within the coming weeks, with 23 currently operational. Seven out of the container terminal’s nine ship-to-shore cranes are operational. 

Private sector stakeholders are hoping to promote more night loading to help alleviate port congestion.  

There are also ongoing efforts to make the Port more attractive for ship repair, with South Africa having already lost business to Walvis Bay in Namibia.  Cape Town’s outdated port handbook was cited as one challenge that could be remedied. “Rig repair is a particular challenge,” one ship repair stakeholder told the PLF. 

Terry Gale, PLF and Exporters Western Cape chairman, said national government needed to fight on behalf of exporters for the best possible tariff outcome: “The discussions are still ongoing and as EWC we will stop at nothing to ensure that trade with the US resumes, even with the 10% basic import duty.”

Jacques Moolman
President of the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry