Cape Town Table Grape Exports Beat Wind Delays

Table grape export volumes from Cape Town continue to surpass those of the previous season despite more than twice the number of windbound hours in February compared to February 2024.

Yet despite 140 more windbound hours in February, up until Week 10, the port exported 3 more table grapes compared to a year before, with 96.1 million 4.5kg cartons shipped.

In its latest season update, the South African Table Grape Industry Sati notes a 5 increase in the volume of table grapes inspected for export up to and including Week 10 of the year, numbering 76.91m 4.5kg equivalent. This is 0.5 more than the national crop estimate of 76.4m cartons.

Up to Week 10, 77 of volumes were exported to the EU and the UK, and 10 to North America.

Antoinette van Heerden, logistical affairs manager at the Fresh Produce Exporters Forum FPEF, noted that the CTCT was now operating nine out of nine ship-to-shore cranes, and 24 out of 24 rubber-tyred gantry RTG cranes.

The first batch of nine new RTG cranes is en route and expected to arrive in Cape Town before the end of March. CTCT aims to have them operational by end-September 2025. The second batch of nine is set to arrive in July 2025 and the last batch of 10 in November 2025.

Productivity measured in gross crane moves per hour GCH increased to 13 in Week 10, compared with 11 for the same week last year, and 12 during the previous week. The GCH dropped to a season-low of nine in Week 07 due to strong winds and windbound conditions, as well as equipment breakdowns.

Jacques Ferreira, Satis commercial affairs manager, said according to its prescriptive logistics model, wind delays at CTCT led to roughly 500 fewer containers being exported compared to the models initial planned scenario.

The analysis suggested that more volumes were shipped on conventional vessels than planned and that the average days to market increased by roughly seven days due to wind delays at CTCT.