By: OrePulse

Container throughput at South Africa's commercial ports fell sharply in the week of September 14-20, dropping 21% from the prior week to 72,837 TEUs, according to the latest Cargo Movement Update compiled by the South African Association of Freight Forwarders and Business Unity South Africa.

The decline averages 10,405 TEUs per day, down from 13,096 TEUs a day the previous week. The setback marks a reversal for a national port system that had been showing gradual, if uneven, signs of recovery in prior weeks.

Durban Gateway Terminal bore the brunt of the slowdown. The terminal handled 20,110 TEUs over the week, a 39% drop from the week before, a decline the update attributed partly to two days of severe weather and the operational disruptions that followed.

Vessel delays at anchorage remained severe. Ships waiting to berth faced an average anchorage time of roughly 214 hours, or almost nine days, with 10 vessels sitting at anchor as of the latest reported position. The broader queue for Durban's port system has grown to 33 vessels in total, including 19 container ships waiting at anchorage.

Landside conditions showed only partial improvement. Stack occupancy at container terminals eased to 54.5%, and the volume of road-import containers on hand fell to 1,960. But cargo evacuation from the port remained uneven: operators recorded 2,225 gate moves against just 287 rail moves in the most recent 24-hour period, underscoring how heavily the system still relies on road transport to clear containers rather than rail.

The renewed congestion affects not only Durban but the wider network of South African container terminals, including Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Ngqura, all of which have been contending with the knock-on effects of delays and weather disruption this year.

The renewed slide comes after months of effort by South African port authorities to work through a backlog that had built up earlier in the year, and it points to knock-on effects for regional import and export supply chains as well as for carriers weighing how to route vessels through the region. Extended anchorage waits also add costs for shipping lines through additional fuel use and schedule disruption, expenses typically passed along the supply chain to cargo owners.

Prolonged anchorage times and inconsistent cargo evacuation directly affect importers and exporters who rely on predictable transit times, as well as shipping lines weighing whether to adjust vessel schedules or reroute cargo around South African ports altogether. The latest figures raise fresh questions about how durable the country's port recovery has been, and how quickly authorities can restore more reliable service before further vessel bunching adds to the backlog.