

Global Berthing Delays
As the backbone of global trade, sea ports are critical in ensuring the smooth flow of goods across continents. However, recent months have seen significant berthing delays at major ports worldwide, disrupting supply chains and causing ripple effects throughout the logistics industry. This edition provides a brief overview of the latest port statistics and critical updates.
South African Ports
Berthing delays experienced across all ports in South Africa have reduced compared to week 21. This is highlighted in these snapshots for mainly Durban, Cape Town and Gqeberha (Coega) where fewer vessels are now waiting at anchorage to berth.

Port congestion has been a persistent issue. High traffic volumes, coupled with infrastructure challenges and the most recent adverse weather conditions has led to ongoing delays. Despite seeing an overall reduction in berthing delays, the challenges with port omissions, and changes to voyages last minute across all major shipping lines still exist. Delays upward of two weeks continues especially for Durban Port.

Global Port Statistics

China is home to some of the busiest and most important seaports in the world, handling a significant volume of cargo for import and export activities. A surge in congestion across China however heightens. In the last month, freight rates have continued to escalate, and space remains fully booked with ongoing blank sailings and rolled bookings.
“The main port giving us issues is Ningbo as one of our main transshipment ports in China is only releasing bookings that have historically been supported at origin, making it difficult for new customers to secure shipments,” a carrier source said. Sources reported a two-to-three day delay in berthing at Port Klang and Singapore and a five-to-six day delay at Jebel Ali. During normal circumstances, the same ports see berthing on arrival or delays of up to only half a day.
Sources expect more blank sailings in the upcoming weeks especially on the Trans-Pacific since schedules remain uncertain with transit times increasing due to vessels going around the Cape of Good Hope. For the North Asia-Indian Subcontinent route, some carriers removed vessels from their existing loops to add more capacity towards Europe and the US.
