THE ROLE OF CARGO IN COASTAL TRADES
4.3 REGIONAL CABOTAGE
The CMTP suggests a form of regional cabotage serviced by a national coastal carrier.
With that in mind, this section is concerned with the assessment of the regional cargo base. It must be emphasised that regional strategic, political, legal and social considerations, although integral and important to SADC cabotage, will not be covered.37 The enquiry relates only to the status of regional cargo and focuses on the appraisal of trade flows to determine whether or not sufficient cargo exists for regional cabotage purposes.
4.3.1 Limitations of regional cargo data
Bearing in mind the nature of sources of information for regional cargo, there are instances in which it will be cumbersome to provide full details of certain vessels referred in the study. However, details relating to volumes and vessel routes will be disclosed. Broad cargo descriptions and general description of sources of such cargo will be given to avoid divulging precise details that might traverse commercial confidentiality boundaries. On the same basis, coastal carriers that provided cargo information for this section withheld the latest statistics. Therefore, the regional cargo analysis predominantly deals with information in respect of cargo carried over four years during the period 2010 to 2013.
Furthermore, it was not possible to collate statistics from the countries to which South Africa exports. The relevant agencies of the respective countries do not have readily accessible cargo records. With the exception of bulk salt exports from Walvis Bay, no regional data was made available in respect of other bulk and breakbulk cargo.
Therefore, the study predominantly covers exports from South Africa to other ports in the SADC region.38 Nevertheless, the available information provides the study with a clear and sufficient basis on which reasonable inferences can be drawn.
37 Detailed coverage of regional and continental imperatives for cabotage policy was discussed in chapter 3.
38 South African agencies have no statistics for cargo moving in the SADC region. Therefore, the information discussed in this regard is derived from records of coastal shipping companies who operate vessels on the African eastern and western seaboards and the Indian Ocean Islands.
4.3.2 Regional cargo overview
Regional cargo assessment covers the range of ports between Luanda to the west and Mombasa to the east. It also includes ports in Reunion, Mauritius and Madagascar.
It appears from the statistical records of coastal operators that import volumes moving along the Southern African coast into South Africa are very low. The bulk of TEUs imported from the region are landed empty.39 The dominant ports for the majority of empty containers seem to be Beira and Maputo.40 Vessels from these ports often return to South Africa with an average of about 700 empty TEUs.41 Some of these containers come from as far up the coast as Djibouti and Lomu. For example, on 16 June 2017, a vessel from Beira carried 451 TEUs to Durban, 381 of which were empty. The vessel then sailed to Cape Town and discharged only 1 FCL. On 29 May 2017, another vessel from Maputo discharged 842 TEUs in Durban, 805 of which were empty. The same vessel discharged 65 FCL in Cape Town. Information received from two different regional coasters confirm this trend.
The two graphs below, Figure 4.10 and Figure 4.11, show respectively the top eight regional countries to which South Africa exports and the types of cargo exported. The eight countries, in alphabetical order, are: Angola, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Reunion and Tanzania. However, the lion’s share of South Africa’s coastal cargo is exported mostly to four countries, namely Mauritius, Angola, Tanzania and, more recently, Kenya. Overall, a negligible amount of cargo goes elsewhere. On the information available, South African exports are generally shipped to the region from the port of Durban.
39 However, these numbers vary and can reach close to a thousand empty TEUs per vessel on occasion.
For instance, on 23 June 2017, one vessel landed 928 TEUs in Durban, of which 854 were empty. The same vessel discharged 55 FCL in Cape Town.
40 This is shown from container statistics of a coaster that operates in the range of ports between Beira and Walvis Bay.
41 Ibid.
Figure 4.10: South African seaborne exports (Luanda to Mombasa) (Source: South African coastal operators)
On average, Mauritius imports from South Africa about 14 000 TEUs a year. Angola and Tanzania import an average of about 13 000 TEUs and about 11 500 TEUs respectively. Kenya imported an average of about 16 500 TEUs in 2012/3 and about a thousand TEUs a year in each of the preceding two years. Other regional countries on average each import between 3 500 and 6 000 TEUs from South Africa per year.
It appears that between the east and the west, the bulk of coastal containerised exports are concentrated on the south-eastern seaboard (Madagascar, Kenya, Tanzania and Reunion), while the single highest export destination is in Angola, on the south-western seaboard. Interestingly, the remaining countries (Namibia and Mozambique) have relatively lower seaborne export volumes from South Africa.42 However, because they are contiguous to South Africa, they present an ideal opportunity for regional cabotage, particularly since the coastal route passing along these countries already exists and is well established. Therefore, on the basis of the volumes in Figure 4.10 above, the position of these countries allows for a short sea-pendulum trade from South Africa to the east, perhaps up to Nacala, swinging back to Beira, Maputo, through South African ports to Lüderitz and Walvis Bay to the west and back again.
42 Probably because seaborne transport in general faces steep competition from road transport that operates between SA and countries such as Mozambique and Namibia.
ANGOLA KENYA MADAGAS
CAR MAURITI
US Mozambiq
ue NAMIBIA REUNION Tanzania
2010 TEUs 12833 1031 6578 17329 3571 6361 4832 12482
2011 TEUs 15259 1105 4422 14648 2812 176 3424 12338
2012 TEUs 14091 16453 5792 13652 5634 6146 3892 12564
2013 TEUs 13644 17540 7150 12969 5509 3782 3414 9209
20000 40006000 100008000 12000 14000 16000 18000 20000
SA Exports - by country
The longer coastal route (for instance, between Luanda and Mombasa) may require the use of some of the shorter pendulum ports (such as Maputo, Durban or Ngqura) as transshipment ports to improve transit efficiencies and to create shorter sailings.
Transshipment on these terms possesses potential to stimulate further coastal activity.
4.3.3 Regional commodities
Figure 4.11 below shows major export cargo shipped to SADC countries. Regional cargo flows effectively consist of four types of commodities. This assemblage may be regarded as typical primary cargo for regional cabotage. These are processed foods, paper (including paper products), chemicals and other goods from manufacturing industries. Chemicals are the most dominant exports across the spectrum of all sampled countries.
Figure 4.11: Primary regional cargo exports – South Africa to SADC (Source: Local regional coastal operators’ statistics)
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000
ANGOLA MADAGASCAR MOZAMBIQUE REUNION ANGOLA MADAGASCAR MOZAMBIQUE REUNION ANGOLA MADAGASCAR MOZAMBIQUE REUNION ANGOLA MADAGASCAR MOZAMBIQUE REUNION
Chemicals
Other Manufacturing IndustriesPaperProcessed Foods
2013 TEUs
2012 TEUs
2011TEUs
2010 TEUs
Out of the eight regional sinks, Mauritius, Angola, Tanzania and Kenya are the only four that show overall cargo volume consistency. Others depict erratic trends. For instance, Namibia shows highest volumes of processed foods imports while showing negligible volumes in respect of other commodities. Namibia’s containerised cargo demand from South Africa is primarily in respect of a single commodity. As such, this is not a diverse coastal trade. Therefore, in the event of a decline in the demand for processed foods from South Africa, for whatever reason, coastal trade between South Africa and Namibia could face a crisis.43
Other relevant export volumes of processed foods land in Angola, Mauritius and Madagascar. Chemicals are exported fairly proportionally between Mauritius, Kenya and Angola. However, Tanzania shows the highest volumes of chemical exports. Paper exports to Kenya and Mauritius also make appreciable volumes. The category for ‘other manufacturing commodities’ is dominated by Angola, while other sampled countries share proportionally in this category.