As the year winds down, welcome to the December edition of our Global Logistics Update. The holiday season is expected to be extremely dynamic, with increased demand, condensed timelines and evolving strategies shaping the logistics landscape. By planning early, businesses can navigate port challenges and meet customer expectations during this critical peak season.
South African Ports
South African ports are integral to regional and global trade, acting as key hubs for exports, imports, and transshipments across southern Africa. Managed by Transnet National Ports Authority, these ports support a variety of cargo types, including bulk commodities, containers, liquid fuels, and automotive products. The main ports including Durban, Coega and Cape Town each continue to experience varying degrees of challenges as summarised on a weekly basis below:
We highlight in these images vessels currently at anchorage pending berth at our main ports, showing Durban Port still quite congested. Port congestion and delays have been reported with Durban at 17 days, Cape Town at 4 days and Coega at 3 days on average.
Transnet’s Anchorage Report 9/12/2024 for Durban – Vessels waiting to berth
South African ports have been undergoing modernization to increase their efficiency and capacity. TNPA has invested in upgrading local ports with new equipment, expanded terminal capacity, and digital tracking systems to improve efficiency. We hope to see some critical developments from early 2025.
ICTSI challenges Durban interdict as main case awaits March 2025 hearing
International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) revealed that it had appealed on December 4 against the Durban High Court’s interdict, which blocked Transnet from implementing their public-private partnership agreement to operate Durban Container Terminal Pier 2 (DCT2).
Private sector calls for overhaul of Durban Container Terminal Pier 2 plan
Robust, dynamic discussions shaped the logistics industry symposium held this week, highlighting positive signs for the year ahead. The meeting called for government to maintain its focus on consultation and collaboration with the private sector at this crucial juncture.
Global Ports
Air Freight: Air cargo movements are in demand as of December also resulting in some congestion and higher freight rates.
Sea Freight: Global freight remains under pressure in the final quarter of 2024. Ocean freight demand is strong, especially on Asia-Europe and Asia-Americas routing.
Port Updates:
Port congestion significantly disrupts logistics supply chain management and can often lead to delays due to the vessels waiting to berth at destined ports. The Red Sea crisis has also significantly disrupted global shipping this year, causing ships to take longer routes around South Africa to avoid the Red Sea—leading to missed sailing schedules, global port congestion, and fewer port calls. Port congestion significantly impacts cargo flow, ultimately leading to changes in delivery schedules and increasing costs for importers that rely on timely shipments. The ripple effect can impact everything from inventory management to consumer prices.
Mauritius:
Severe delays are being experienced on import/export services to and from Port Louis including services to Indian Ocean Island destinations routed over Mauritius. This is due to capacity constraints, erratic scheduling, carrier cut and run activity and heavy swells generated by previous tropical cyclones in the region. Please expect ongoing delays during peak season.
Africa:
Kenya/Namibia/ Tanzania – main ports experienced 3-4 day berthing delays
Canada:
Montreal/Vancouver/Toronto – berthing delays of 7-10 days experienced at main ports. Backlog is anticipated to take an additional 2–3 weeks.
USA:
New York / New Jersey – Vessel waiting time is up to 2 days. APMT received new cranes in Nov with temporarily limited berth availability at Berth 84 for at least 2-3 weeks. Additional restrictions on berth availability are expected during the commissioning phase, extending until February 2025.
Norfolk / Charleston / Houston / Los Angeles / Seattle– Vessel waiting time is 2-3 days.
Savannah / Oakland – Vessel waiting time is 7-8 days.
Miami – Vessel waiting time is up to 4 days.
Argentina – Berthing delays of 3 days experienced at Buenos Aires port.
Brazil – Berthing delays of 6 days experienced at Santos port.
Mexico – Berthing delays of 3 days experienced at Altamira and Manzanillo ports, and 2 days at Veracruz port
Belgium – Berthing delays of 4 days experienced at Antwerp port.
France – Berthing delays of 2 days experienced at Le Havre port.
Germany – Berthing delays of 6 days experienced at Hamburg port and 1 day at Bremerhaven port.
Italy – Berthing delays of 2 days experienced at Genova port and 3 days at La Spezia ports.
Netherlands – Berthing delays of 3 days experienced at Rotterdam port.
Spain / Sweden / Turkey – Berthing delays of 2 days experienced at main ports
UK – Berthing delays of 5 days experienced at London Gateway port.
India – Berthing delay of 1 day experienced at Nhava Sheva port and 2 days at Chennai port.
UAE – Berthing delays of 1 day experienced at Jebel Ali port
Sri Lanka – Berthing delays of 2 days experienced at Colombo port. FCL containers transhipping in Colombo have expected delays of 2 weeks.
APAC:
Korea – Berthing delays of 3 days experienced at Busan port. Vessel bunching is being experienced.
Malaysia – Minor berthing delays but FCL containers transhipping in Tanjung Pelepas have expected delays of 1-2 weeks
Nansha / Ningbo / Shanghai / Shakou / Xingang / Taiwan – Berthing delays 2-4 days experienced at main ports
Xiamen – Berthing delays of 5 days experienced at this port
Singapore – Minor berthing delays but FCL containers transhipping in Singapore have expected delays of 1-2 weeks
Global Trends
[Ocean – TPEB]
Rates: Floating rates continue to ease for the West Coast, with open space to both the Pacific Southwest and Northwest. Carriers are eyeing a Dec. 15 General Rate Increase (GRI), pending confirmation, based on pre-tariff and pre-Lunar New Year cargo surges.
Space: East Coast and Gulf services remain tight, with most strings full through mid-December.
[Ocean – FEWB]
Rates: 1H December GRI was announced at $6,000–6,200/FEU, but settled at $5,300–5,500/FEU. The Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) rose by $558/TEU in Week 49, reflecting GRI implementation. Rates are expected to increase slightly with floating rate adjustments before easing in 2H Dec.
Space: Space was full in 1H Dec due to late November overflow. However, with no strong demand upticks or additional loaders arriving, space in 2H Dec is manageable. Premium options are available for those requiring firm space on earlier estimated times of departure (ETDs) or specific service/transit times.
Premium options: Occasional equipment shortages persist at main Chinese ports, but remain manageable.
[Ocean – TAWB]
Space: Vessel capacity remains tight due to blank sailings and high demand from both North and South Europe. Restructuring-related blank sailings are expected to continue until the last week of January in 2025, when the new network launches.
Extra charges: Some carriers have announced 2025 emission charges, combining the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) and FuelEU Maritime Regulation, with increases of 55-75%.
Rates: December rates remain stable for most carriers, following November trends for North and South Europe, with slight adjustments in the East Mediterranean, particularly Turkey.
Indian ports strike threat returns
Dockworkers in India have called for an indefinite strike across all major ports starting on December 17 if the government fails to implement wage revisions and productivity schemes before December 15.
https://splash247.com/indian-ports-strike-threat-returns/
Disruptions will continue to undermine reliability
Looking ahead to 2025, Rasmussen acknowledged the challenges of making accurate predictions given the ongoing uncertainty in the Red Sea. “We’ve outlined two scenarios,” he explained. “In our base scenario, we assume that vessels will safely resume Red Sea and Suez Canal routes throughout 2025. Alternatively, our second scenario assumes that the current rerouting patterns will persist without any significant changes.”
https://www.freightnews.co.za/article/disruptions-will-continue-undermine-reliability
Freight News
We understand the importance of staying up to date with the latest trends, challenges, and advancements in our industry and we wish to highlight just a few articles which you might find of interest.
Police seize cocaine worth R80m at Durban Port
https://www.freightnews.co.za/article/police-seize-cocaine-worth-r80m-durban-port
Durban Container Terminal takes delivery of equipment
https://www.freightnews.co.za/article/durban-container-terminal-takes-delivery-equipment
Hapag-Lloyd CEO: Trump tariffs could pressure some sectors but won’t derail global trade
SAA Cargo hit by pilot strike
https://www.freightnews.co.za/article/saa-cargo-hit-pilot-strike
Indian dockworkers threaten nationwide strike
https://www.worldcargonews.com/news/2024/12/indian-dockworkers-threaten-nationwide-strike
Ramaphosa signs National Road Traffic Amendment Bill
https://www.freightnews.co.za/article/ramaphosa-signs-national-road-traffic-amendment-bill
January strike at US east and Gulf coast ports now inevitable, say forwarders
https://theloadstar.com/january-strike-at-us-east-and-gulf-coast-ports-now-inevitable-say-forwarders
Relief for Asia-Europe carriers as rate hikes stick – now transpac GRIs loom
https://theloadstar.com/relief-for-asia-europe-carriers-as-rate-hikes-stick-now-transpac-gris-loom
Sources & References
Seatrade Maritime / Loadstar / Freight News / GoComet / Maersk / Openpr / Transnet / WeFreight / MSC / AfricaPorts / Container Statistics / Flexport / SACO / Hellenic Shipping / Worldcargonews