South Africa News

ONE Offers New African Service

Container lines Ocean Network Express (ONE) is launching a new service covering Africa, India and the Middle East (AIM).The new product will broaden ONE’s already expansive global coverage by offering direct port calls between West Africa, South Africa and key locations in West Asia.The new service will offer market leading transit times between the West Asian ports of Jebel Ali, Mundra, Nhava Sheva and Colombo and African ports of Durban, Cape Town, Tema, Tincan and Apapa.The AIM Service…

Hapag-Lloyd Launches New Africa Service

Hapag-Lloyd is expanding its African liner services and will offer its MIAX (Middle East-India-Africa Express) service starting in October 2019. It will include direct connections between the Arabian Gulf, India, Colombo (Sri Lanka), La Réunion, South Africa and West Africa.MIAX is integrated into the Global Mainline Network with the central ports Jebel Ali (Dubai) and Colombo. Hapag-Lloyd will operate MIAX jointly with Ocean Network Express.

Go-slow at Port Hits South African Car and Commodity Exports

A go-slow by workers at a major South African port is hitting exports of cars and other commodities, the country's Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Thursday.State-owned rail operator Transnet said it had suspended a number of employees at its Ngqura Container Terminal for engaging in what it said was an illegal industrial action."We are getting reports of a go-slow at some of our ports which is beginning to (have an) impact on the export of vehicles from South Africa in particular but perhaps other commodities as well…

17.5 Tons of Cocaine found on Containership

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)-led multi-agency examination of shipping containers at the Philadelphia seaport netted a historic load of cocaine, the largest cocaine seizure in the 230-year history of U.S. Customs and CBP, with an estimated weight of over 17.5 tons and a street value of about $1.1 billion.During a midstream joint boarding Sunday night, CBP, HSI, and U.S. Coast Guard authorities detected anomalies while examining seven shipping containers aboard the MSC Gayane…

Kadow tapped to head AGCS Marine

Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty SE  (AGCS) said that, effective July 1, 2019, Ulrich Kadow will be appointed as AGCS Global Head of Marine. Currently Chief Agent of AGCS Canada, Kadow will take over from current Global Head of Marine and Energy Simon Buxton, who is leaving Allianz. Until a successor in Canada is confirmed, Kadow will maintain a dual leadership role for both the country and Marine Line of Business responsibilities.Kadow has led AGCS’ Canadian business since May 2015, after originally joining AGCS in 2006.

Mariners Set to Strike at South African Ports

South Africa's transport workers union Satawu threatened a "total shutdown" at major ports across the country from Thursday after issuing a 48-hour strike notice for mariners over a payment dispute, the union said on Tuesday.The South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) called the strike after negotiations with management became deadlocked over salary discrepancies between black and white mariners, with what it says are white mariners drawing higher salaries than their black counterparts…

Cape Town to Employ Helo Pilotage Transfers

Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) has taken the decision to introduce a helicopter service at its Port of Cape Town to transfer marine pilots onto and off visiting vessels. This would make the port one of three within the South African port landlord’s complementary port system that offer the service, the others being Durban and Richards Bay.TNPA expects to commission the helicopter in Cape Town in 2021, according to GM: Infrastructure and Port Planning, Hamilton Nxumalo.In…

Poor April for Seaborne Coal masks Better Market

Coal exporters suffered a poor April with seaborne volumes dropping from the previous month amid slack demand, but the overall picture for the industry so far this year isn't quite as gloomy as it may appear.April is not traditionally a strong month for coal demand as it falls between the winter and summer power demand peaks - declining seaborne volumes are to be expected.It's also worth noting that the world's top coal exporters have managed to boost shipments on a year-on-year basis…

Miami Delegation Returns to Port of Cape Town

Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) welcomed a high-level delegation from the Miami-Dade County in the United States for a tour of South Africa’s second busiest port, the Port of Cape Town, on Tuesday, March 26, 2019. The visit formed part of the Miami-Dade Business Development Mission to South Africa from March 24 to March 27, 2019.The Miami-Dade delegation was led by Ms Audrey M. Edmonson, Chairwoman of the Miami-Dade County Commission. She was joined by senior representatives of entities including Miami-Dade Aviation Department…

The Port of Ngqura – Nurturing its green status

Transnet National Ports Authority’s (TNPA) Port of Ngqura is the only port with a green status in the South African port system and maintains this status through a number of innovative measures.“Ngqura is the only South African port that was subjected to environmental legislation during its entire development and will continue to be during its operation and future development,” said Mandilakhe Mdodana, Environmental Manager.The port’s ‘green’ initiatives include among others a number of unique biodiversity conservation programs…

Rhenus Acquires World Net Logistics

European logistics provider Rhenus Group has acquired South African freight forwarding and logistics specialist World Net Logistics (WNL).The takeover of the Johannesburg-headquartered firm WNL is still subject to approval by the relevant cartel authorities.In addition to having a dense network of business sites in South Africa, WNL also has several branches and partners in Asia and Germany.The acquisition by Germany’s Rhenus Group is the latest in a string of purchases around the world in the last few months alone…

Port of Durban: Growing Cargo Volumes

The Port of Durban has noted growth in volumes in the container, liquid bulk and dry bulk sectors in 2018, according to recent data released by Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA).Container volumes in the Port of Durban ended 9.5% higher for the year ending December 2018 at 2 956 670 TEUs compared to the 2 699 978 TEUs handled in 2017. Of this, container imports grew by 10% in 2018 and exports by 17%. These are the highest volumes handled by the port in the last seven years.Dry bulk volumes grew by 5.8% from 2017 to 2018…

Opportunities for Boat Building in Eastern Cape

Transnet National Ports Authority’s (TNPA) Port of Ngqura has hosted the testing and launch of the first ever locally manufactured aluminium vessels by PE-based boat builder, Legacy Marine. As the company’s ship yard is based in Perseverance, the low bridges blocked the route to the Port of PE in the past, restricting the building of larger vessels. When the new Port of Ngqura stepped up as an alternative port, it contributed to the expansion of boat building in the Eastern Cape.“Now that the port is available for new vessel launches…

Hapag-Lloyd: Expedition Fleet to Cruise Without Heavy Oil

Together with the introduction of new expedition cruise catalogues for the 2020-2021 season. Hapag-Lloyd Cruises has also announced that low-pollutant marine gas oil (MGO) will be used exclusively on all routes sailed by its expedition ships in the fleet - the HANSEATIC nature, the HANSEATIC inspiration and the BREMEN from July 2020. Joining the fleet in 2021, the HANSEATIC spirit will also use this fuel.The use of low-sulphur fuels in the Antarctic has been mandatory for several years and already Hapag-Lloyd Cruises uses marine gas oil voluntarily in other sensitive regions…

Lankhorst Appoints Commercial Director

Maritime and heavy lift ropes company, Lankhorst Ropes, has appointed Mark Pieter Frölich as commercial director for Lankhorst Ropes USA. Based in Philadelphia, Frölich will head the development of Lankhorst Ropes’ sales in the maritime and offshore markets in the United States and Canada.Lankhorst Ropes is part of Kansas based WireCo WorldGroup, a steel wire and synthetic ropes maker. Previously regional manager for Lankhorst Ropes in the Middle East, Frölich has spent the past seven years successfully founding and growing the WireCo WorldGroup branch office in Dubai.

Construction Kicks Off at Ngqura Liquid Bulk Terminal

Oiltanking Grindrod Calulo (Pty) Ltd (OTGC) and Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) has turned the first sod at the site of the Port of Ngqura’s future liquid bulk tank farm. This comes ahead of the planned decommissioning and rehabilitation of the existing liquid bulk facilities at the neighboring Port of Port Elizabeth, which will pave the way for Ngqura’s establishment as a new petroleum trading hub for Southern Africa.The new tank farm is expected to provide storage and marine infrastructure to support the overall petroleum demand projections for South Africa.

India's Thermal Coal Imports Could Rise 10 pct in 2019

India's thermal coal imports could rise by about 10 percent in 2019 due to rail transport problems and other logistical bottlenecks, an executive at the country's largest coal trader Adani Enterprises said on Tuesday.Thermal coal imports rose in 2018 after two years of decline, despite moves by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to cut the country's imports in a bid to reduce the trade deficit.Rajendra Singh, chief operating officer for coal trading at Adani Enterprises…

World Seaborne Coal Trade Rose 3.7% in 2018

World coal seaborne trade grew 3.7 percent last year helped by higher output in India, Indonesia and Russia, Germany's VDKI coal importers lobby said on Friday.Imports and exports rose to 1.202 billion tonnes from 1.159 billion tonnes in 2017, VDKI Managing Director Franz-Josef Wodopia said in an speech made available to Reuters.Of the total, trade in steam coal used in power stations rose by 3.6 percent to 920 million tonnes.Trade in coking coal used for steelmaking rose by 4.4 percent to 281 million tonnes…

TransNamib, Botswana Railways MoU on Gobabis Container Terminal

TransNamib Holdings Ltd, and Botswana Railways (BR) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Gaborone, Botswana, which will culminate in the development and operation of a container terminal in Gobabis.The MoU, signed by TransNamib CEO, Johny Smith, and his Motswana counterpart, Leonard Musa Makwinja, signals the beginning of a fruitful and beneficial relationship to develop and enhance trade between the two countries. The MoU was .“The future of railways offers many opportunities”, said.

ZIM Launches Blockchain-based Bills of Lading

Israel’s largest cargo shipping company ZIM Integrated Shipping Services has opened its blockchain platform for electronic bills of lading (eB/Ls) to all clients in selected trades.Over the last year, following ZIM’s November 2017 announcement regarding the first-ever pilot of paperless Bills-of-Lading based on blockchain technology, ZIM and selected leading customers have been testing the new Platform as a solution for trade activities on multiple shipping lanes.Following the successful pilot, accomplished with the cooperation of Wave Ltd.

First U.S. Crude Cargoes Head to China Since Trade Breakthrough

Three cargoes of U.S. crude are heading to China from the U.S. Gulf Coast, trade sources said on Monday, the first departures since late September and a 90-day pause in the two countries' trade war that began last month.The vessels left Galveston, Texas, last month and are scheduled to arrive at Chinese ports between late January and early March, according to shipbrokers and vessel tracking data. The shipments mark a change since Chinese buyers largely began avoiding U.S. oil during the trade dispute that flared last summer."It looks like China has resumed purchasing U.S.

ZIM's Blockchain-based B/L Initiative

Over the last year, following ZIM’s November 2017 announcement regarding the first-ever pilot of paperless Bills-of-Lading based on blockchain technology, ZIM and selected leading customers have been testing the new Platform as a solution for trade activities on multiple shipping lanes.Following the successful pilot, accomplished with the cooperation of Wave Ltd. and Sparx Logistics, ZIM continued to evaluate the platform in different trade lanes with more customers. The exploratory…

Seafarer Survives Six Days in the Sea After Ship Sinks

A seafarer has survived six days in the open sea after the ship he was on sank in the Bali Strait.Indonesian Nahum Naibahas, 26, known as Riski, was on board the Multi Prima, which sank when it was hit by two-meter high waves on 22 November.After almost a week in the water, Riski was picked up by a search and rescue boat.Harry Rumagit, a chaplain from international maritime charity Sailors’ Society, has been supporting Riski since his ordeal.Harry said, “When he was picked up, Riski was very weak.

Global Container Trade Lost Momentum in Q3: Maersk

Global container trade continued to lose momentum in Q3 2018, with growth down to around 2.7% compared to Q3 2017, said A.P. Moller - Maersk in its Q3 interim report.Year-to-date, global container trade has increased by 4.2% compared with the same period last year, a much slower pace of growth than the 5.8% recorded in 2017 Container trade remained fairly weak on the EastWest trades, growing by 1.9% in Q3.Growth was driven by European imports from Asia of 2.3%, refl ecting descent…

Martin Bencher expands in North America

Scandinavian based Shipping and Freight Forwarding company Martin Bencher expands in North America with an office in Vancouver, BC, Canada.A press release from the project logistics company quoted  Peter Thorsoe Jensen, CEO MB Group as saying: “North America is a very important project market for the Martin Bencher Group and with an office in Vancouver, BC, Canada, we are in a better position to service existing and new customers in the Pacific North West and throughout Canada.”“After 10 years of successful operation in the USA…

Transnet Removes CEO for Alleged Misconduct

The board of directors of South African state-owned logistics firm Transnet said it had removed Chief Executive Siyabonga Gama, who has been accused of misconduct in a multi-million-dollar deal.Transnet, which operates nearly three-quarters of the African rail network, the bulk of which is in South Africa, has been investigating allegations of corruption in the procurement of diesel and electric locomotives.The board said late Sunday that it had lost confidence in Gama and that…