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Supply chain disruption choking Southern African trade growth

Southern Africa's trade growth is being strangled by container shipping's inability to absorb increasing volumes as the sector contends with constrained port, vessel, and inland logistics networks brought about conflict in the Persian Gulf. South Africa's citrus exports were particularly hard hit by the crisis, with year-to-date exports having collapsed some 24% when measured against last year's numbers, down from 15.2m cartons to 11.5m. While small in terms of total merchandise - 4% of South Africa's export activity - the Middle East is a region the country is particularly exposed to when it comes to fruit and meat, which have provided substantial injections for the South African economy. "This makes the UAE/Saudi-linked routing and demand risks material, despite the limited aggregate share," one source told The Loadstar, while noting other regions have stepped in to fill the void. With total year-to-date citrus exports having climbed a little over 2%, to 62.1m cartons, Asia, Europe, and the UK are playing an increasingly prominent role, European volumes topping 24.3m, while 6.2m cartons have headed towards the UK, and 2.9m across the Asia. "Citrus is ramping up," the source added. More broadly, South Africa experienced something of a record-breaking month in May, with global container port throughput surpassing 17.3m teu, according to Container Trades Statistics (CTS), "highlighting the resilience of underlying cargo demand despite". Month on month, that represented 6.2% growth, despite the persistent issues with congestion, schedule disruption, and the wider supply chain pressures that have plagued the continent more broadly. "This suggests current strains are being driven not by weak volumes, but by the system's difficulty in absorbing elevated flows across already-constrained port, vessel, and inland logistics networks," added the source. Seven-day average vessel waiting times at Cape Town and Durban have ticked past the 48-hour mark, and it seems that in both cases, surging reefer demand for citrus exports are responsible - although each port has nuances of its own compounding this. Kuehne + Nagel has singled out Cape Town as "the port... most constrained" in its network, and that together with reefer demand, the gateway is also dealing with increased 'late-stack volumes', further constraining operations, with "a high risk" of delays and rollings imminent. At Durban the picture is more complex, with landside congestion and poor truck turnarounds, while the gateway is "currently experiencing heightened tensions and sporadic disruptions, linked to anti-immigration protests".

Oman Air eyes freighter partnerships to expand in cargo

Oman Air is targeting freighter partnerships and the expansion of its trucking network as it looks to expand its cargo operations. Speaking to Air Cargo News at the recent Air Cargo China exhibition, Oman Air head of cargo Mike Duggan said that the airline was hoping to start partnerships with freighter operators on services between Asia, Africa and Europe, hubbing through Muscat. Any partnership would extend beyond a straightforward block space agreement (BSA), with Oman Air working with the partner on routing and scheduling. "We are talking about Hong Kong, Vietnam and Thailand into Europe through the Middle East and into Africa through the Middle East, so hubbing through Muscat," he said. "Then we would also have widebody capacity out of Africa through Muscat. So basically, triangulating Muscat between the three key points." He added: "Africa has a lot of demand from Asia, so we can fill that through Muscat and the European market is well established from Asia. And then out of Africa, there are a lot of perishable exports to Europe, the Middle East and Asia." Duggan said that the freighter partnership, as well as growing the cargo business, would also feed and defeed its bellyhold operation with higher-yielding cargo. He added that if the partnerships establish a strong business case, the airline could launch its own widebody freighter operation in the future. "We can scale up from the partner capability, which gives us the flexibility to manage the scale of the capacity we need at the beginning and de-risk it a little bit," he said. But he added: "Cargo isn't picky about what aircraft it gets on, what colours are on the outside. It is a box on a pallet, in a tube that moves from A to B." Road operation expansion Elsewhere, the airline also recently launched a road feeder operation between Muscat and Dubai to enable larger and widebody-compatible cargo to be transported between the two countries. Duggan said the trucking service "has been doing great" and in June moved more than 200 tonnes on multiple trucks per day. Cargo can also connect with widebody flights in Muscat, he explained. As well as creating extra competition for shippers, the operation also provides them with the opportunity to diversify transport modes in case of the unexpected. "Consumers and businesses have a different option now and competition always helps," he said. Oman Air Cargo is currently exploring whether it can expand the operation to new locations in the Middle East, such as Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. However, there are some challenges to establishing those journeys in terms of customs, bonding processes and the time it takes to cross borders. Middle East cargo outlook Looking to the rest of the year, Duggan is confident in the cargo market, although he added that much depends on how quickly the passenger market recovers. He pointed out that many of the major international carriers not based in the region are still not operating flights into the Middle East. Meanwhile, he said, some shippers still have concerns about shipping through the Middle East in case their cargo gets stuck, although he added that Oman airspace had remained open throughout the conflict, which may have helped its case for acting as a transhipment point. Looking beyond the Middle East, Duggan said that demand remained strong, although he said there were some underlying concerns. "Will there be an inflationary impact? Will there be a time lag because it has only been a temporary fuel spike? What is the peace deal with the Houthis? Does that open up the Red Sea again? Does modal shift change again? How will supply chain managers manage their risk?" he questioned.

Cargo facility to be developed at Harrisburg Airport in US

Transportation-focused real estate and infrastructure investments company Realterm and the Susquehanna Area Regional Airport Authority (SARAA) have partnered to develop a new cargo facility at Harrisburg International Airport in Pennsylvania, US. The development will deliver up to 105,000 sq ft of first-line cargo space and will sit directly adjacent to the airfield apron, allowing aircraft to park at the building's doors and cargo to move straight from plane to warehouse. There will be eight airside drive-in doors, 40 landside loading dock doors and more than 180 vehicle parking spots. The building will be developed to LEED-certified standards, incorporating skylights, motion-sensor LED lighting, EV-ready infrastructure and an engineered slab capable of supporting specialised cargo needs, including cooler spaces, floor scales and pallet lifts. Harrisburg processed over 55,000 tons of cargo in 2025, according to Airports Council International (ACI) World. "MDT is dedicated to continued cargo growth, and this development is a direct expression of that vision," said Jennifer Carter, senior vice president, airport affairs, Realterm. "The airport's strategic location at the heart of Central Pennsylvania, serving a region that has attracted major investment from global companies, makes MDT the natural choice for operators looking for a competitive advantage in the Mid-Atlantic." "This development represents the strength of our long-standing partnership with SARAA, and we see significant untapped demand at MDT," commented Alexi Lachambre, senior vice president, Investments, Airport Infrastructure, Realterm. "This is a rare opportunity in today's market, a readily developable first-line site served by a newly constructed aircraft ramp in a strategic U.S. distribution location." Timothy Edwards, executive director of the Susquehanna Area Regional Airport Authority, also added: "MDT recently completed a $60 million expansion of our airside cargo apron and we are truly excited about the partnership with Realterm and the prospect of a new of a state-of-the-art modern air cargo facility which will complement that infrastructure investment." Realterm's recent projects include the $270m Modern Air Cargo Facility at John F. Kennedy International Airport, developed in partnership with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and the Northeast Cargo Campus at O'Hare International Airport, encompassing 900,000 sq ft. In June last year, Realterm announced plans to develop a new air cargo facility at Leipzig/Halle Airport.