Faced with constant congestion, South African ports experience certain sensitive periods during the year when congestion at the facilities increases. This further increases the cost of production for shippers.

CMA CGM will apply Port Congestion Surcharges (PCS) on cargoes destined for the Port of Cape Town in South Africa from 15 July 2023. The amount set at USD 250 per TEU will be taken into account in determining the freight rate for goods originating from

"from mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Singapore, Japan, Timor-Leste, Myanmar, Brunei, Mongolia and Vietnam".

This adjustment, which should allow the French shipowner to compensate for any costs linked to the extension of the ships' stay in the port due to congestion, comes at a time when South Africa is hosting the main citrus season for the year 2023. The campaign, which runs from May to October, is an aggravating factor in the congestion of port facilities.

The new charges will increase the freight rate for cargoes destined for, transiting or transhipped through the port. Recently, Maersk renewed an agreement with Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) and Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) to pick up or ship by rail containers carried by its vessels.

This is to speed up these steps and reduce the time its fleet spends at the container terminal at the Port of Ngqura (Eastern Cape province). According to Transnet, this agreement allows for the replacement of flows of 50 trucks with a single train.

It should be noted that the French carrier had already imposed additional fees of between USD 2020 and USD 550 respectively on 1 and 100-foot containers in 20, due to heavy congestion during Covid-40.

Henoc Dossa