Durban and Richards Bay ports had a productive 2018

THE KWAZULU-NATAL (KZN) ports of Durban and Richards Bay had a productive 2018, despite the occasional hiccup caused by cable theft resulting in derailments. Bulk exports out of Richards Bay grew by 19.5 percent year-on-year (y/y) in the first quarter to 26 million tons (mt), but growth then slowed for the balance of the year.

This put into question the early 2018 expectation that the improvement in operations by Transnet Freight Rail since the annual maintenance in July 2017 on the line to the Mpumalanga coal fields should see the annual total move above 90mt in 2018, but as it was, double-digit growth in some months allowed the target to be surpassed with a

4.5 percent rise for the year to 92.8mt.

Overall bulk exports, however, were not that fortunate, as multiple derailments on the Sishen-saldanha iron ore line meant that bulk exports out of Saldanha slumped by 10.5 percent to 57.4mt. Despite lower maize production in 2018, bulk exports out of all the other ports held up relatively well and there was only a 3.5 percent drop to 17.7mt. This meant that bulk exports fell by 2 percent in 2018 to 167.9mt after a 4.9 percent gain in 2017.

In terms of container shipments in Durban, the October data is distorted by the storm that disrupted container operations in October 2017. Full containers imported surged by 29.5 percent y/y and full containers exported soared by 37.2 percent y/y, but compared with September they fell by 3.4 percent and 13.3 percent respectively.

A look at the monthly container volumes seems to indicate that importers are receiving their shipments earlier as the Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals pull retail sales forward into November from the December Christmas sales. In 2015, the peak month for full containers imported was November, but in both 2017 and 2018, the peak month was September.

For the year as a whole, full containers imported via Durban rose by 12.4 percent, while full containers exported grew by 6.9 percent. The government is hoping that by making it easier to export, this ratio will be reversed and export growth will exceed import growth in 2019.

Break bulk exports out of Richards Bay, which are mostly aluminium ingots, more than doubled in March 2018 to 446 189 tons from 221 939 tons in March 2017, but this high growth could not be sustained for the full year. The 2018 increase was therefore only 4.7 percent, but the 2018 export total was 3.2 percent less than the 2016 export total.