CONTAINER lines that have avoided the dangers of transiting the Red Sea by extending voyages around the Cape of Good Hope face another black swan in the form of winter in the southern hemisphere.

Severe weather has meant a sharp fall in containerships passing the Cape in recent days. 

On Saturday, passings fell from 26 to 16, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence data. Over the following three days, there were no transits at all, and vessels could be seen corralled off the east coast of southern Africa, waiting for the weather system to pass.

Car carriers, with their high freeboards, also avoided the area. Few pass South Africa on any given day, but transits for these vessels also fell to zero as the weather pattern passed through.

It was only on Wednesday that passages began to resume, with nine boxships taking the plunge. Thursday’s data show normal passage making has resumed.

The waters off South Africa are affected by weather patterns emerging in the Southern Ocean. Moreover, the south-running Agulhas current pushes into the westerly weather patterns, raising steep and dangerous wave patterns.

The conditions were so severe that crew of the Ultrabulk handysize Ultra Galaxy (IMO: 9449352) were forced to abandon ship after it began listing in rough seas on Monday.

Ultra Galaxy has now run aground off the South African coast, prompting fears of an oil spill from its bunkers.

The Panama-flagged, 13,802 dwt vessel was carrying fertiliser from Walvis Bay, Namibia, to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

The South African Maritime Safety Authority said salvage efforts were now at “high speed” to prevent a spill from the vessel’s low sulphur bunkers.

One tug arrived to help it on Tuesday; another left Cape Town that evening with more people and equipment.

The bulker’s 18 Filipino crew were rescued from a life raft on Monday evening. 

In another incident, the 17,859 teu CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin (IMO: 9706891) lost 44 boxes and suffered damage to another 30 after rough weather south east of South Africa on Wednesday.

“No injury to the crew has been reported, no pollution, no strong damage to the vessel, which remains fully seaworthy,” CMA CGM said in a statement, adding that none of the lost boxes contained dangerous cargo.

CMA CGM said it had notified the relevant authorities and that the vessel would proceed to Cape Town for an assessment, and would take “all relevant and necessary measures” to ensure a safe onward voyage.

Isaac Hankes, senior weather analyst at the London Stock Exchange Group, said the bad weather had emerged from a strong cyclone that hit the region on Sunday and was associated with below-normal temperatures.

“This was a powerful cyclone, with winds that generated the waves, but we are not seeing anything extraordinary in the data,” he said.

“There is another cyclone likely to impact South Africa later this week, so the issue with the waves may continue yet with respect to shipping issues.”

Maersk had earlier warned customers that strong winds and high waves were set to affect South Africa between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth.

“Vessels are expected to seek shelter/alter their course to avoid the impacted areas. Expect delays over the next few days,” it said.

While the temporary halt to sailings around southern Africa is unlikely to have any serious effect on supply chains, it will have added up to three days to already extended passage times, adding more pressure on carriers’ efforts to stabilise their networks.

At Antwerp, wait times have risen up to three days. Rotterdam and Hamburg are also operating at high capacity.