The shipping schedule from South Africa to Singapore has been very chaotic due to port congestion and bad weather conditions during the grape export season. The port of Cape Town has been affected by strong winds, causing vessels to wait outside the port. As a result, some vessels chose to omit the port of Cape Town. Shippers can load from Durban, but this is an expensive option as the grapes must be trucked more than 1000km to load.
"Due to the delay in arrivals from South Africa, we were getting arrivals with 2 to 3 days in between instead of the usual 7 day of gap in arrivals," according to Hong Chew Kwek, Managing Director at Kwek Global Pte Ltd. "This tight arrival schedule is being mitigated by the strong demand for South African grapes from the Singapore retailers and wholesalers."
© Kwek Global
Mr. Kwek said that they had 10x40ft containers of South African grapes arriving between 13th January and 15th February 2026.
"We had varieties like Ivory Green seedless, Tawny Red seedless, and Midnight Beauty Black seedless grapes arriving this period. The quality of the South African grapes has been excellent for the early part of the season. The grapes arrived with sweet eating brix, firm and crunchy eating tone, resulting in good demand and movement in the retail and wholesale markets. Also, Singapore consumers have a sweet tooth and prefer good eating grapes."
© Kwek Global
Red and green seedless grapes are more popular among consumers, as the sales moved faster for varieties of these two colours. South African grapes continue to move well even after the Chinese New Year, as the supply is short due to the delay in vessels arriving. There is a two-week supply gap as the next vessel, NYK Fuji, won't arrive until 04th March 2026, according to Mr. Kwek.
"Currently, we are seeing some air shipments of Australian grapes and sea shipments of Indian grapes. However, due to the higher price of air shipment, the Australian grapes are catering to a niche market segment. The Indian grape is value for money, and it serves the food services sector well."
For more information:
Hong Chew Kwek
Kwek Global
Tel: + 65 9833 8223
[email protected]
