SATI says new equipment will steady Cape Town’s fruit loading
The South African Table Grape Industry says strong winds keep disrupting Cape Town shipments, but new equipment may ease delays.
SOUTH AFRICA – Cape Town’s fruit sector is trying to keep shipments moving after strong winds halted operations at the Cape Town Container Terminal for most of November.
Grape exporters rely on this period to get fruit into stores before Christmas, but many now face delays, diversions, and rising concern over the weeks ahead.
A freight forwarder captures the mood of many exporters, saying “The wind has been unprecedented. It took us all by surprise coming on so strong, so early.” The disruption deepened through November as wind speeds pushed past 100 km per hour, often stopping container moves for long stretches.
Mecia Petersen, CEO of the South African Table Grape Industry, says the scale of stoppages has shocked growers. She explains that “our information shows that during the first three weeks of November, the terminal clocked 338 hours of wind delays, an increase of 27 percent in comparison with 2024, and wind speeds regularly exceeding 100km per hour.”
Exporters say they cannot risk missing vessels, so many have begun diverting grapes to Gqeberha and Ngqurha instead of Cape Town. One grower notes that “currently, we’re loading on two vessels in PE. We also loaded out of Port Elizabeth last season, but only from week 51 when the volumes were starting to pick up in the Cape. This season, the wind and productivity just didn’t cooperate.”
Some ships still plan calls that can take grapes in time. Even so, growers say one recent vessel left up to 250 containers behind. Transnet did not respond to questions from media about the backlog.
Rising pressure as delays continue
The Cape Town Container Terminal lost more than 130 hours to wind last week alone. Workers managed two full days of operations and parts of two others. At one point, the terminal also struggled without network access for more than a day, adding another strain to an already difficult period.
The Multi-Purpose Terminal faced fewer interruptions. Terry Gale of the Cape Town Business Chamber says this terminal can keep working in stronger winds because “she is able to operate with ship-to-shore gantries and is not as severely affected by the wind.”
Gale expects some relief soon. He explains that “cognisance must be made that currently only nine new RTGs are operational with another nine coming on stream on 30 November. They have an anti-sway mechanism that allows them to operate at over 100kph. Once the terminal receives its full complement, this should alleviate some of these delays.”
Climate scientists warn that the Atlantic coast is now seeing more long waves. These long waves, which can stretch several hundred metres, often disrupt ship berthing even when they appear slight to the eye. The trend raises concern about the future reliability of port operations during peak export seasons.
Exporters now hope the new rubber-tired gantries arriving at the terminal this weekend will stabilise the situation. For now, growers continue to redirect fruit, juggle vessel schedules, and do everything possible to keep grapes moving before the Christmas market closes.
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