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Inter-Sped Freight & Logistics Brief – 2 October 2026

Dear Clients, Colleagues, and Partners,
Please find below our latest weekly update — 2 October 2026.

As always, the team and I are ready to assist with any Freight & Logistics queries you may have.

Critical Alerts This Week

Durban remains severely congested: Pier 2 (DGT) at 10-18 days and Pier 1 at 7-10 days, with some vessels delayed up to 21 days and revised DGT storage periods from 1 October.

Asia: Golden Week (1 to 7 October) and blank sailings add schedule risk, with schedule reliability just below 50% and Asia – South Africa vessels overbooked.

Air freight: peak-season capacity constraints and higher rates, with fuel surcharges on most airlines increased from 26/09/2026.

Middle East-Gulf: Dubai at 28 days and Jebel Ali at 10 days, with customs filing delays and constrained trucking.

South Africa

Air Freight:

General: Rates remain elevated. Going into peak season sees capacity constraints with higher freight rates. Fuel Surcharge on most airlines have increased 26/09/2026

Ethiopian Airlines faces on-forwarding backlogs on connecting flights from Addis Ababa.

SA Airlink have backlogs into Africa.

For Exports Ex-South Africa British Airways /Turkish Airlines/ Qatar/KLM is upselling rates at time of booking due to capacity.

Backlogs out of the Far East due to typhoons in China persist but are easing.

Local and cross Boarder Road Freight:

All services running smoothly.

Sea Freight:

Severe delays continue at Durban Pier 1 and Pier 2 (DGT), with some carriers omitting Durban and rerouting vessels for transhipment into Durban; DG cargo acceptance is subject to delay and the citrus season is lifting reefer exports through all SA ports.

KwaZulu-Natal (Durban)

Pier 1: 7-10 days; equipment failures; severe waterside and landside delays — Disrupted
Pier 2 (DGT): 10-18 days; vessels arriving out of window, delays of up to 21 days; revised storage periods from 1 October — Critical
Point: 0-1 days — Stable

Western Cape (Cape Town)

CTCT: 0-2 days; strong winds expected Monday 5 October — Stable
MPT: 0-1 days; equipment repair in progress — Stable

Eastern Cape (Gqeberha)

PECT: 0-2 days — Stable
NCT: 0-5 days; equipment repairs ongoing, no completion estimate — Moderate

Africa & Indian Ocean Islands

Air Freight:

General: Going into peak season sees capacity constraints with higher freight rates

Ethiopian Airlines is sitting with backlogs of 5 to 7 days Ex-Addis Ababa.

SA Airlink faces Congestion into Africa.

Sea Freight:

Port congestion and schedule slippage persist across West Africa, with elevated flood risk in the western range from 1 to 7 October and high inland transit risk for landlocked destinations such as Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

West Africa

Namibia — Walvis Bay: 1 day; intermittent wind gusts all week — Stable
Angola — Luanda: 4 days — Moderate
Ghana — Tema: 5 days; vessel waiting of 5-6 days; high yard density, trucking shortages — Disrupted
Ghana — Takoradi: 9 days — Disrupted
Nigeria — Apapa: 1 day; vessel delays improved; severe road congestion slows evacuation — Stable
Nigeria — Tin Can: 3 days — Moderate
Côte d’Ivoire — Abidjan: 8 days; vessel waiting up to 12 days; truck shortages, high dwell times — Disrupted

Indian Ocean Islands

Mauritius — Port Louis: 0-3 days; strong winds, high swells and periodic truck queues — Stable
Madagascar — Toamasina: 1 day; variable congestion from rapid volume growth — Stable
Réunion: 3 days — Moderate

East Africa

Mozambique — Beira: 19 days; terminal recovery expected by week 40/43; wind and rain — Critical
Mozambique — Maputo: 4 days; wind gusts and rain — Moderate
Kenya — Mombasa: 6 days; vessel bunching, possible rolled connections; Northern Corridor cargo disrupted — Disrupted
Tanzania — Dar es Salaam: 3 days — Moderate

Middle East & Indian Sub-Continent

Sea Freight:

Red Sea security remains the primary regional risk; capacity on the India – South Africa trade remains tight, with congestion at Nhava Sheva and Mundra and constrained trucking in the UAE.

Indian Sub-Continent

India — Nhava Sheva: 2 days; trucking and gate congestion; high dwell times — Moderate
India — Chennai: 1 day; relatively stable operations — Stable
India — Mundra: 4 days; congestion moderately lower than earlier in the year — Moderate
Sri Lanka — Colombo: 0-2 days; high volumes; some transshipment delays — Stable
Pakistan — Karachi: 4 days — Moderate

Middle East-Gulf

UAE — Jebel Ali: 10 days; customs filing delays; landbridge and transshipment pressure — Critical
UAE — Khor Fakkan: 8 days — Disrupted
UAE — Al Fujairah: 9 days — Disrupted
UAE — Sharjah: 8 days — Disrupted
UAE — Abu Dhabi: 9 days — Disrupted
UAE — Dubai: 28 days — Critical
Saudi Arabia — Jeddah: 4 days; network disruptions and schedule changes — Moderate
Saudi Arabia — King Abdullah: 7 days — Disrupted
Saudi Arabia — Dammam: 4 days; vessel schedule volatility — Moderate

North America

Air Freight:

General: Going into peak season sees capacity constraints with higher freight rates

Sea Freight:

Port rotation on USA services into South Africa is erratic due to the Durban Gateway Terminal situation, with inland rail, chassis and drayage the main pressure points; US IPI increases apply from 15 October (exports) and 1 November 2026 (imports).

Canada

Canada — Montreal: 2 days; elevated import rail dwell times — Moderate
Canada — Vancouver: 2 days; rail capacity and inland equipment availability — Moderate

United States

USA — New York: 3 days — Moderate
USA — Savannah: 3 days; drayage under pressure at peak — Moderate
USA — Los Angeles: 2 days; selected gate and shift closures — Moderate
USA — Long Beach: 3 days; rail, chassis and inland transport pressure — Moderate

Latin America

Air Freight:

General: Rates remain elevated. All areas are running with some capacity constraints experienced on some routings. Going into peak season sees capacity constraints with higher freight rates

KLM congested.

Sea Freight:

Capacity remains constrained, with pressure at Brazil’s export gateways and Mexico’s Pacific ports, inland trucking delays and schedule volatility from global vessel network disruption.

Argentina

Argentina — Buenos Aires: 8 days; inland trucking, river transport and customs constraints — Disrupted

Brazil

Brazil — Paranaguá: 6 days; export corridor pressure — Disrupted
Brazil — Santos: 1 day — Stable

Mexico

Mexico — Altamira: 4 days — Moderate
Mexico — Veracruz: 2 days — Moderate
Mexico — Manzanillo: 3 days; customs delays, terminal density and truck access restrictions — Moderate

Europe — NW Continent, UK & Med

Air Freight:

General: Going into peak season sees capacity constraints with higher freight rates

Sea Freight:

Residual effects of September port strikes in Germany and the Netherlands, low Rhine levels and a national strike in France continue to pressure NW European gateways, with pressure expected through October ahead of Black Friday and Christmas.

North-West Continent

Belgium — Antwerp: 4 days; high terminal utilisation; barge delays — Moderate
Netherlands — Rotterdam: 1 day; inland transfer bottlenecks; demurrage exposure — Stable
France — Le Havre: 7 days; national strike in week 40; spillover congestion — Disrupted
Germany — Hamburg: 2 days; low schedule reliability; rail capacity pressure — Moderate
Germany — Bremerhaven: 1 day; high yard utilisation — Stable

United Kingdom

UK — London Gateway: 1 day — Stable

Mediterranean

Italy — Genoa: 2 days; terminal congestion; trucking and berthing pressure — Moderate
Italy — La Spezia: 2 days; rail infrastructure works — Moderate
Spain — Barcelona: 2 days; exposed to Mediterranean schedule disruption — Moderate
Turkey — Istanbul: 1 day — Stable
Turkey — Izmir: 6 days — Disrupted

Asia Pacific (incl. Oceania)

Air Freight:

General: Going into peak season sees capacity constraints with higher freight rates

Sea Freight:

Golden Week closures (1 to 7 October) and related blank sailings add schedule risk; Asia – South Africa vessels are overbooked, rates are rising and schedule reliability is just below 50%.

China

China — Hong Kong: 1 day; terminal utilisation high; backlog largely cleared — Stable
China — Nansha / Guangzhou: 1 day; some improvement on September peak — Stable
China — Ningbo: 2 days; high yard density; dredging-related berth restrictions — Moderate
China — Qingdao: 3 days — Moderate
China — Shanghai: 4 days; vessel bunching; risk of rolled cargo and omitted calls — Moderate
China — Shekou / Shenzhen: 3 days; gate-in restrictions; reduced truck appointment flexibility — Moderate
China — Xiamen: 0 days — Stable
China — Tianjin / Xingang: 0 days — Stable
China — Dalian: 0 days — Stable

South-East Asia

Singapore: 3 days; tight transshipment connection windows — Moderate
Thailand — Bangkok: 0 days; severe flooding; inland trucking delays — Disrupted
Thailand — Laem Chabang: 1 day — Stable

North Asia

Korea — Busan (KRPUS): 2 days — Moderate
Korea — Busan (KRBNP): 1 day — Stable
Taiwan — Kaohsiung: 2 days — Moderate
Taiwan — Keelung: 1 day — Stable

Trade News

Asian port disruption ties up 3m TEU: Typhoons and port congestion have left about 8.5% of the global container fleet effectively unavailable, with schedule reliability just below 50% in August and no full resolution expected before Chinese New Year 2027 (The Loadstar, citing Sea-Intelligence, 28 September).

Maersk introduces Durban congestion fee: A Congestion Fee Destination applies to Far East and Middle East cargo discharged at Durban Gateway Terminal, effective 15 September (Maersk, 1 October).

Peak-season pressure builds as trade stays resilient: Metro Shipping reports strong demand alongside congestion, capacity changes and rising transport costs, with severe Asian port congestion potentially taking months to unwind and airfreight demand strengthening ahead of Q4 (Metro Shipping, 1 October).

Golden Week pause adds pressure for October: Cargo accumulated during China’s 1–7 October holiday returns alongside new bookings, with blank sailings already scheduled for weeks 41–43 and carrier GRIs possible from mid-October (R.H. Shipping, 30 September).

Key Articles This Week

Ocean Trade Summary — Issue 33/2026 (SACO)
Trade Advisory: Durban Gateway Terminal – Storage Update (SACO, 30 September)
Global Trade Stays Resilient as Peak-Season Pressures Build (Metro Shipping, 1 October)
Delays Mount as Port Disruption in Asia Ties Up 3m TEU of Box Capacity (The Loadstar, 28 September)
Congestion Fee Destination for Far East & Middle East Cargo to Durban (Maersk, 1 October)
World Container Index – 1 October 2026 (Drewry, 1 October)
Asia Pauses for Golden Week but Pressure Builds for October (R.H. Shipping, 30 September)

And that’s it – as always, the Inter-Sped team is ready to jump for you!

Best Regards, The Inter-Sped Team

Mon | 5 October |2026

Project Cargo: What It Is, and Why It Needs a Different Kind of Freight Partner

Most cargo fits in a box. A standard 20-foot or 40-foot container, properly packed, handles the vast majority of what moves through international freight. But some cargo doesn’t fit, and that’s where project cargo begins.

Project cargo is the category of freight that exceeds standard container dimensions, weight limits, or structural requirements. Think mining equipment shipped from a manufacturer in Germany to a copper mine in Zambia. A transformer transported from a supplier in China to a new substation in the Northern Cape. Wind turbine components – blades, tower sections – arriving at Durban Port destined for a renewable energy site in the Karoo. These are not theoretical examples, they are the kinds of movements that happen routinely in South Africa’s mining, energy, and infrastructure sectors, and they require a logistics approach that has nothing in common with booking a standard container.

What Qualifies as Project Cargo?

Project cargo goes by several names in the freight industry such as heavy lift, out-of-gauge (OOG), breakbulk, or abnormal load. They overlap, but they each describe a slightly different dimension of the challenge:

Out-of-gauge (OOG) refers to cargo that exceeds the external dimensions of a standard container – too wide, too tall, too long, or some combination. OOG cargo cannot be shipped in a conventional box and requires specialist equipment: flat-rack containers, open-top containers, or in extreme cases, purpose-chartered vessels.
Heavy lift refers to cargo that exceeds standard weight limits – individual pieces that cannot be handled with conventional lifting equipment and require specialist cranes, self-propelled modular transporters (SPMTs), or custom rigging solutions at port and at destination.
Breakbulk describes cargo that is shipped as individual pieces rather than in containers – large fabricated structures, steel sections, or industrial components that are loaded directly onto the vessel deck or into a general cargo hold.

In practice, a single project shipment often combines all three challenges: cargo that is oversized, overweight, and not containerisable, moving from multiple international origins to a single remote destination in South Africa or deeper into Africa.

Why South Africa Is a High-Activity Market for Project Cargo

Several structural forces are generating sustained project cargo demand in South Africa in 2026.

South Africa’s mining sector is undergoing a significant renewable energy transition, with major mining houses investing in large-scale solar and wind installations to reduce exposure to Eskom’s grid. Projects of this kind require the import of specialist electrical and generation equipment in dimensions and weights that standard freight simply cannot accommodate.

The broader renewable energy programme under the government’s REIPPP (Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme) continues to drive wind, solar, and battery storage projects across multiple bid windows, each requiring the delivery of turbine components, transformer banks, switchgear, and mounting structures to often remote and infrastructure-constrained sites.

Mining capital expenditure – across gold, platinum group metals, copper, and rare earths – generates a parallel and ongoing pipeline of heavy equipment imports: mills, crushers, conveyors, pressure vessels, and processing plant components that can weigh hundreds of tonnes and measure tens of metres across.

South Africa’s position as the logistics gateway for sub-Saharan Africa means that project cargo destined for landlocked markets (Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, the DRC) frequently transits through South African ports before moving overland, adding cross-border complexity to an already demanding logistics challenge.

What Makes Project Cargo Logistics Different

Standard freight forwarding skills do not transfer automatically to project cargo. The differences are operational, technical, and regulatory.

Route surveys and feasibility assessments come before booking: Before a single piece of abnormal cargo moves on South African roads, the route must be surveyed for bridge load ratings, overhead clearance, turning radii, and any infrastructure constraints. This is not desk research, it requires physical inspection of the proposed route, and in many cases, liaison with road authorities, municipalities, and Sanral for abnormal load permits.
Abnormal load permits are non-negotiable: South African law requires permits for any vehicle or load that exceeds standard dimensions or weight limits. Permit applications specify the route, timing, speed restrictions, and escort requirements, including police escorts for the largest movements. The permitting process takes time and there are no shortcuts; cargo that moves without the correct permits creates legal liability and road safety risk.
Vessel and port coordination is specialist work: OOG and breakbulk cargo cannot simply be booked onto a standard container service. It requires identifying vessels with the appropriate deck space, crane capacity, and structural capability, coordinating with port authorities on berth allocation and heavy lift equipment availability, and managing the loading and securing of non-standard cargo in a way that meets both the carrier’s requirements and international maritime safety standards.
End-to-end accountability matters more, not less: When a standard container shipment goes wrong, the consequences are usually financial and recoverable. When a once-off piece of capital equipment (a transformer, a stator, a mine headgear) is damaged in transit, the consequences can be project-stopping. The logistics partner’s experience, attention to detail, and willingness to take genuine responsibility for every stage of the movement is the difference between a successful delivery and a costly problem.

Choosing a Partner for Project Cargo

Project cargo is not a service that rewards the lowest quote. It rewards experience, network, and the technical capability to anticipate and solve problems before they become delays.

At Inter-Sped, our project cargo capability spans sea, road, and air freight across South Africa’s three major ports (Durban, Cape Town, and Port Elizabeth) with the customs clearing and cross-border expertise to manage the full movement, including into African markets. Whether you are importing capital equipment for a mining or energy project, or coordinating multi-origin shipments to a single project site, our team is equipped to manage the complexity that project cargo demands.

Mon | 28 September |2026

Inter-Sped Freight & Logistics Brief – 18 September 2026

Dear Clients, Colleagues, and Partners,
Please find below our latest weekly update — 18 September 2026.

As always, the team and I are ready to assist with any Freight & Logistics queries you may have.

Critical Alerts This Week

Durban Pier 2 (DGT): severe waterside and landside congestion continues, with equipment failures, high yard congestion and vessel delays of up to 21 days.

Mozambique — Beira: delays of up to 39 days, with terminal recovery not expected until weeks 40/43.

UAE — Dubai: congestion delays of up to 26 days amid ongoing Gulf security risk and network disruption.

Asia Pacific: schedule reliability has deteriorated sharply after successive typhoons, with only around 21% of vessels reportedly arriving on schedule at Shanghai.

South Africa

Air Freight:

Rates remain elevated. Further capacity strain and higher freight rates expected as peak season approaches.

Ethiopian Airlines faces on-forwarding backlogs on connecting flights from Addis Ababa.

SA Airlink have backlogs into Africa.

For Exports Ex-South Africa British Airways is upselling rates at time of booking due to capacity.

Backlogs out of the Far East due to typhoons in China persist but are easing.

Local and cross Boarder Road Freight:

All services running smoothly.

Sea Freight:

Durban Pier 2 (DGT) congestion remains severe, with equipment failures and vessel delays of up to 21 days; citrus export season is driving a sharp rise in reefer container volumes through all SA ports.

KwaZulu-Natal (Durban)

Pier 1: 3-4 days; weather delays, expected to clear through the balance of the week — Moderate
Pier 2 (DGT): 7-18 days; severe waterside/landside delays, equipment failures, high yard congestion — Critical
Point: 0-1 days — Stable

Western Cape (Cape Town)

CTCT: 0-5 days; one crane out of service, undergoing repairs — Moderate
MPT: 0-1 days; operations stable — Stable

Eastern Cape (Gqeberha/Port Elizabeth)

PECT: 0-1 days; weather challenges; equipment repairs ongoing, no completion timeframe — Moderate
NCT: 0-5 days; weather related challenges further impacting terminal operations — Moderate

Africa & Indian Ocean Islands

Air Freight:

Rates remain elevated with increasing rate pressure being felt due to the situation in the Middle East. Capacity constraints continue on export lanes.

Ethiopian Airlines is sitting with backlogs of 5 to 7 days Ex-Addis Ababa.

SA Airlink faces Congestion into Africa.

Sea Freight:

⚠️ West African gateways face mixed conditions with rainy-season flooding risk, while Beira and Toamasina/Tamatave carry the region’s most severe congestion and inland corridor delays.

West Africa

Namibia — Walvis Bay: 1-2 days; intermittent wind gusts expected for the entire week — Stable
Angola — Luanda: 2 days; operations generally on schedule — Stable
Ghana — Tema: 7 days; severe landside congestion; trucking shortages and high demand — Disrupted
Ghana — Takoradi: 1 day — Stable
Nigeria — Apapa: 4 days; elevated vessel queues; road congestion likely to persist through September — Moderate
Nigeria — Tincan: 3 days; elevated vessel queues and berth delays — Moderate
Ivory Coast — Abidjan: 12 days; equipment reliability issues, truck shortages; erratic schedule reliability — Disrupted

Indian Ocean Islands

Mauritius — Port Louis: 0-1 days; strong wind gusts/high swells; approaching long-term capacity thresholds — Moderate
Madagascar — Toamasina/Tamatave: 20 days; inland transport along the RN2 corridor remains critical — Critical
Reunion — Reunion: 1 day; relatively stable operations — Stable

East Africa

Mozambique — Beira: 39 days; terminal recovery expected by week 40/43; intermittent wind gusts and rain — Critical
Mozambique — Maputo: 5 days; intermittent wind gusts and rain for the rest of the week — Moderate
Kenya — Mombasa: 2 days; persistent vessel waiting times, truck shortages, customs bottlenecks — Moderate
Tanzania — Dar es Salaam: 1 day; strongest performing gateway in East Africa — Stable

Middle East & Indian Sub-Continent

Air Freight:

Rates remain elevated & Capacity constraints across the region persist. Further pressure may still emerge if there are more Sea to Air conversions resulting from India, where port congestion and shipment backlogs have been a serious challenge.

Sea Freight:

India-SA capacity remains critical and Colombo transshipment pressure continues, while Jeddah is this week’s primary Middle East congestion hotspot amid ongoing Gulf security and network disruption.

Indian Sub-Continent

India — Nhava Sheva: 2 days; elevated dwell times probable; truck congestion and gate delays — Moderate
India — Chennai: 2 days; vessel delays and berth pressure; some recovery seen — Moderate
India — Mundra: 2 days; congestion indicators reflect an overall improvement — Stable
Sri Lanka — Colombo: 0-3 days; increased transshipment volumes; berthing delays across multiple terminals — Moderate
Pakistan — Karachi: 5 days; some improvement, but volumes remain high with strong cargo demand — Moderate

Middle East-Gulf

UAE — Jebel Ali: 12 days — Disrupted
UAE — Khor Fakkan: 8 days — Disrupted
UAE — Al Fujairah: 5 days — Moderate
UAE — Sharjah: 2 days — Stable
UAE — Abu Dhabi: 13 days — Disrupted
UAE — Dubai: 26 days — Critical
Saudi Arabia — Jeddah: 4 days; significant Customs clearance delays; warehouse capacity severely constrained — Disrupted
Saudi Arabia — King Abdullah: 5 days; congestion remains elevated — Moderate
Saudi Arabia — Dammam: 11 days; case-by-case planning due to security considerations — Disrupted

North America

Air Freight:

Rates remain elevated. All areas are running with some capacity constraints.

Sea Freight:

Escalating US-Canada tariff tensions and peak-season congestion continue to pressure major US gateways, while the Durban Gateway Terminal situation is disrupting vessel rotation on USA services into South Africa.

Canada

Montreal: 1 day; port performance relatively stable — Stable
Vancouver: 4 days; high dependency on stable rail network performance — Moderate

United States

New York: 3 days; high terminal utilisation; vessel bunching, truck congestion — Moderate
Savannah: 2 days; berth demand remains elevated; vessel bunching may pressure drayage — Moderate
Los Angeles: 2 days; chassis availability and terminal turnaround times are a key risk — Moderate
Long Beach: 4 days; chassis availability and inland rail fluidity remain a risk — Moderate

Latin America

Air Freight:

Rates remain elevated. All areas are running with some capacity constraints experienced on some routings.

KLM congested.

Sea Freight:

Panama Canal transit restrictions and seasonal export congestion at Paranaguá and Altamira remain the region’s key risk factors.

Argentina

Buenos Aires: 5 days; port operations are generally stable — Stable

Brazil

Paranaguá: 10 days; high levels of congestion and long vessel queues — Disrupted
Santos: 4 days; seasonal vessel bunching, spillover into inland rail/road — Moderate

Mexico

Altamira: 21 days — Critical
Veracruz: 1 day; operations remain largely stable — Stable
Manzanillo: 3 days; sustained import volume pressure; Customs and terminal constraints — Moderate

Europe — NW Continent, UK & Med

Air Freight:

With the ending of the summer holidays – peak season is approaching that is likely to add capacity constraints with higher freight rates expected.

Sea Freight:

Industrial action in Germany and Rotterdam, low Rhine water levels, and ongoing Red Sea/Mediterranean security concerns continue to pressure North European and Mediterranean schedules.

North-West Continent

Belgium — Antwerp: 2 days; congestion improving; yard utilisation under pressure — Moderate
Netherlands — Rotterdam: 5 days; strike action disrupted handling; low Rhine levels constrain inland transport — Disrupted
France — Le Havre: 2 days; high yard utilisation; carrier network schedule adjustments — Moderate
Germany — Hamburg: 3 days; industrial action; inland transport congestion, reduced barge throughput — Moderate
Germany — Bremerhaven: 3 days; industrial action, disruptions lower than Hamburg — Stable

United Kingdom

London Gateway: 1 day; relatively stable — Stable

Mediterranean

Italy — Genoa: 5 days; increased import activity challenges terminal productivity; trucking/rail pressure — Disrupted
Italy — La Spezia: 3 days; operations are largely stable at this time — Stable
Spain — Barcelona: 2 days; general stable, but exposed to broader Mediterranean disruptions — Moderate
Turkey — Istanbul: 0 days; localized congestion due to dense trucking environment — Stable
Turkey — Izmir: 4 days — Moderate

Asia Pacific (incl. Oceania)

Air Freight:

Rates remain elevated. The fast approaching peak season will add capacity constraints and higher freight rates.

Sea Freight:

Successive typhoons have driven schedule reliability sharply lower across East Asia, with congestion at Shanghai, Ningbo and Qingdao expected to persist into China’s Golden Week blank-sailing period.

China

Hong Kong: 1 day — Stable
Nansha/Guangzhou: 3 days; high yard density (92-95% occupancy); vessel waiting times above normal — Disrupted
Ningbo: 3 days; recovery expected to continue into late September — Moderate
Qingdao: 3 days; significant vessel waiting times following multiple typhoon shutdowns — Disrupted
Shanghai: 5 days; schedule reliability deteriorated sharply, ~21% of vessels on schedule — Critical
Shekou/Shenzhen: 2 days; schedule instability, carrier omissions; restricted gate operations — Disrupted
Xiamen: 2 days; congestion from typhoon recovery efforts — Moderate
Tianjin/Xingang: 2 days; congestion from typhoon recovery efforts — Moderate
Dalian: 2 days; congestion from typhoon recovery efforts — Moderate

South-East Asia

Singapore: 2 days; increased transshipment demand; yard utilization elevated — Moderate
Thailand — Bangkok (THBKK): 0 days — Stable
Thailand — Laem Chabang: 0 days — Stable

North Asia

Korea — Busan (KRPUS): 3 days; typhoon-related disruption; delayed feeder connectivity — Disrupted
Korea — Busan (KRBNP): 3 days; typhoon-related disruption; delayed feeder connectivity — Disrupted
Taiwan — Kaohsiung: 2 days — Stable
Taiwan — Keelung: 0 days — Stable

Trade News

Transpacific rates hold near peak levels: Trans-Pacific spot rates were hovering around $7,600 per FEU to the US West Coast and $9,500 to the East Coast in early September, with fuel costs and Asian port congestion keeping prices elevated (FreightWaves, 8 September).

Drewry WCI ticks up on Golden Week blank sailings: The Drewry World Container Index rose 1% to $4,500 per 40ft container in the week to 17 September, driven by a 5-7% jump on Transpacific lanes as carriers manage capacity ahead of China’s Golden Week (Drewry, 17 September).

Red Sea capacity returning cautiously: Carriers are restoring more Suez Canal transits on Asia-Mediterranean services even as Houthi forces expand territorial control near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, with Sea-Intelligence estimating over a quarter of Asia-Europe capacity will transit the Red Sea in September (FreightWaves, 15 September).

Key Articles This Week

Ocean Trade Summary — Issue 32/2026 (SACO)
Durban Pier 2 Congestion Deepens as ICTSI System Transition Strains SA Trade (Ubuntu Times, 16 September)
DGT Still Running 30% Below Normal Throughput as Booking Reforms Await Rollout (EWC Logistics News Update, 15 September)
Houthi Advance on Bab el-Mandeb Raises Fresh Red Sea Shipping Risk (FreightWaves, 15 September)
Saudi Arabia Suspends Yanbu Oil Loadings as Red Sea Threat Widens, Pushing Oil to Four-Month Highs (MarineLink, 16 September)
Drewry World Container Index Rises 1% as Carriers Manage Capacity Ahead of Golden Week (Drewry, 17 September)

And that’s it – as always, the Inter-Sped team is ready to jump for you!

Best Regards, Linda & The Inter-Sped Team

Fri | 18 September |2026

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Air Freight:

Local and cross Boarder Road Freight:

Sea Freight:

Africa & Indian Ocean Islands

Air Freight:

Sea Freight:

Middle East & Indian Sub-Continent

Sea Freight:

North America

Air Freight:

Sea Freight:

Latin America

Air Freight:

Sea Freight:

Europe — NW Continent, UK & Med

Air Freight:

Sea Freight:

Asia Pacific (incl. Oceania)

Air Freight:

Sea Freight:

Trade News

Key Articles This Week

What Qualifies as Project Cargo?

Why South Africa Is a High-Activity Market for Project Cargo

What Makes Project Cargo Logistics Different

Choosing a Partner for Project Cargo

Critical Alerts This Week

South Africa

Air Freight:

Local and cross Boarder Road Freight:

Sea Freight:

Africa & Indian Ocean Islands

Air Freight:

Sea Freight:

Middle East & Indian Sub-Continent

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company in South Africa