Severe Congestion Hits South Africa's Ports

The ports of Cape Town and Durban in South Africa have been witnessing severe congestion, which has led to some carriers omitting them from their schedules.

During the past week, queues of almost 100 ships have been forming outside of the ports, with waiting times at Durban, the worst affected, currently up to 10 days.

On some services from Asia, we understand that carriers have resorted to discharging Cape Town and Durban bound cargo at Port Louis, Mauritius, before transhipping containers back to the South African ports. This is to avoid delays to global schedules.

From the UK and Europe, Maersk and CMA CGM are amongst the carriers that have omitted calls at the port recently to avoid the congestion.

The situation has been ongoing for a while, but has deteriorated recently due to poor weather conditions and equipment breakdowns, with no immediate sign of the issues coming to an end.

The team at Croft Cargo are keeping a close eye on the situation, and suggest that customers check up to date schedules with us before arranging bookings.

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