Massive ships are heading towards SA

Na'ilah Ebrahim - As container vessels come under attack in the Red Sea, the world's largest shipping companies are rerouting their vessels away from the Suez canal towards the coast of South Africa.

But local ports may not benefit from the traffic as they are passed by due to massive local congestion.

The Iran-aligned Yemeni Houthi militant group has launched missile and drone attacks on ships in the Red Sea. They say this is in solidarity with Hamas, following Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip.

Nils Haupt, spokesperson for the German shipping giant Hapag-Lloyd, said the company made a decision on Monday to reroute several vessels through the Cape of Good Hope route because of the attacks.

"This will be done until the passage through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea will be safe again for vessels and their crews," said Haupt.



Safety

Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) also reported it would use the route around South Africa after a recent attack on its Platinum III container ship.

"Due to this incident and to protect the lives and safety of our seafarers, until the Red Sea passage is safe, MSC ships will not transit the Suez Canal Eastbound and Westbound. Already now, some services will be rerouted to go via the Cape of Good Hope instead," the company said in a statement.

Shipping giant Maersk has started to sail around Africa instead, while Taiwanese container shipping line Evergreen said its container ships which were due to pass through the Red Sea have been rerouted around the Cape of Good Hope. The group has also decided to stop accepting Israeli cargo temporarily, with immediate effect.



Traffic transits

About 15% of world shipping traffic transits via the Suez Canal, the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia. Travelling around South Africa means a 3 500km longer route.

Rico Luman, an analyst at ING, said the diversions were adding at least a week of sailing time for container liners.

"This will at least lead to delays in late December, with knock-on effects in January and probably February as the next round will also be delayed," Luman said.

Two years ago, South Africa saw a flood of large container vessels around its coast after the Suez Canal was blocked by a ship.

At the time, the Western Cape provincial government encouraged the ships to dock at Cape Town to stock up on supplies, while some also use local ports for refuelling services.



Doubts

But there are doubts whether South African harbours will be in any position to accommodate the increased traffic.

South Africa's ports have been under pressure due to equipment failure and adverse weather, leading to increased congestion.

The Cape Town harbour saw its vessel turnaround time (the time between the arrival of a vessel and its departure) reach 94 hours in September – the longest turnaround time since the pandemic. The port is currently struggling to cope with peak fruit export season.

"We do hope that any ships that do call at the Port of Cape Town as a result of the closure of the Red Sea route are accommodated efficiently [by Transnet, which operates the ports]," Mireille Wenger, Western Cape minister of finance and economic ppportunities told News24.

"The Port of Cape Town is currently in the peak deciduous fruit export season, and we have repeatedly made calls for the inclusion of the private sector to ensure investment in critical infrastructure and equipment which is desperately needed, due to historic underinvestment, leading to significant deterioration in the performance of the Port of Cape Town."



Backlog

The backlog from recent weeks at the Cape Town harbour has been cleared. In recent weeks, Durban struggled with thousands of containers stuck outside the port.

Large container vessels have reportedly started to avoid South African ports due to the backlogs, while shipping MSC and Maersk recently introduced levy congestion surcharge fees on containers handled in South Africa because of the delays at local harbours. – Fin24/AFP/Reuters