Earlier this week, the Cape Business Chamber released the figures of hours lost to wind, calling November 2025 "the Port of Cape Town's worst month for five years in terms of lost operation", the equivalent, according to the Chamber, to sixteen full days of downtime due largely to severe wind.
On the contrary, loading at the private FPT terminal situated within the port of Cape Town has not been affected by wind, and the Atlantic Acanthus loaded to capacity with table grapes and stone fruit departed on Monday to offload in Dover on 14 December and the following day in Rotterdam.
© Anlin Shipping The Atlantic Acanthus departed at the start of the week, carrying a full load of South African table grapes and stonefruit for the United Kingdom and Europe
A second conventional vessel could have been scheduled to depart in time for pre-Christmas sales, but the demand didn't stretch that far, and December's second boat will depart two days before Christmas.
"Exporters are committing the same mistake as they have for the past twenty years, putting their eggs all in one basket. They are trucking their fruit all over the country, to Port Elizabeth and Coega, without thinking of the challenges at other ports – Port Elizabeth is not called the windy city for no reason," he says. "The specialised reefer vessel (SRV) model is here to serve the South African industry to its best capability, but for some, it gets misused when in real need. We deserve more credit!"
Meanwhile, Aussenkehr grapes are waiting at Walvis Bay because that port's drawback is that it comes last in line and is supremely affected by what's happening at South African ports. A shipping line that omits Cape Town to make up for lost time is likely to do the same with Walvis Bay, as is happening at the moment, he says.
"The bigger picture is that the industry gets hurt," he remarks. A bunch-up of arriving vessels becomes a possibility. "You can't just easily retrieve your containers from the stack, if it was already waiting there when the shipping line announced it omits the port call, and get it onto another vessel, and if you could, then an entire packing weeks' worth of fruit arrives in the market a week later and the sales price is different and they're getting a whole lot less for their fruit."
Around sixty conventional vessels were employed during the past citrus season out of South African FPT ports, with a huge rise in sailings to Russia, he says.
"When it comes to integrity of the schedule," Gantz maintains, "we're right at the top. When it comes to the cost of our service, we're at the top too, but at least you can be sure your fruit is on its way. We cannot afford to tell a client: go find our vessel. We follow the fruit, and we're always open to talk and listen to our customers."
For more information:
Charles Gantz
Anlin Shipping
Tel: +27 21 914 3979
Email: [email protected]
https://www.anlin.co.za/
