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Major container carriers including Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM are once again rerouting vessels around the Cape of Good Hope, as renewed Red Sea instability and tensions around the Strait of Hormuz push global shipping back onto the long southern route in 2026.
Shipping and Logistics
5 June 2026 • 3 min read
The Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry reports vessel diversions around the Cape rose 112% by early March 2026 — and carriers now describe the detour as a lasting operational shift, not a temporary workaround. For Southern Africa's ports and the road freight operators that serve them, that is a commercial opening measured in ship calls, stores deliveries and bunker tonnes.
Carriers have avoided the Suez Canal and Bab el-Mandeb Strait since late 2023, but the situation escalated again in early 2026, with tensions around the Strait of Hormuz adding a second pressure point. In March, Maersk confirmed the rerouting of its ME11 and MECL services around the Cape of Good Hope, joining a broader carrier shift back to the southern route.
The detour adds roughly 6,000 to 9,000 kilometres per voyage — 10 to 15 extra sailing days on Asia–Europe rotations — and a large containership or VLCC can burn an additional US$400,000 to US$800,000 in bunker fuel each way. Every one of those extra days at sea creates demand for fuel, stores, repairs and crew services somewhere along the African coastline.
Diversion surge: Vessel diversions around the Cape of Good Hope rose 112% as of early March 2026, according to the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which says carriers now view the reroute as a lasting change in operations. (Source: CNBC Africa / Cape Chamber of Commerce, 2026)
The first Red Sea diversion wave exposed an uncomfortable truth: South Africa, historically the continent's bunkering heavyweight, lost ground just as demand surged. Regulatory complications saw South African bunker volumes fall to around 80,000 tonnes a month in 2024, down from roughly 130,000 tonnes in 2023 — with business flowing instead to Port Louis in Mauritius and to Walvis Bay.
Mauritius made the most of it: bunker sales at Port Louis nearly doubled to a record 929,043 tonnes in 2024. Walvis Bay, with its deepening programme and growing container ambitions, has positioned itself as the Atlantic-side alternative. The 2026 diversion wave is now a second chance for every port between Walvis Bay and Durban to capture calls that bypassed them last time.
Cape Town and Durban operators report double-digit increases in ad-hoc port service calls compared with pre-diversion patterns — unscheduled repairs, stores replenishment, fresh provisions and crew changes. Each of those calls generates landside work: refrigerated trucks delivering provisions, flatbeds moving spares from Johannesburg, shuttle services for crew, and bonded warehouse throughput for ship chandlers.
For SADC logistics businesses, the opportunity is not owning a bunker barge — it is plugging into the supply chains behind every additional ship call. Chandling supply runs, port-to-port equipment moves and time-critical spares deliveries are exactly the kind of loads that surface when vessel traffic shifts, and they typically pay a premium for reliability.
More ships rounding the Cape means more port calls, more chandling demand and more time-critical landside freight at Walvis Bay, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Durban. Transporters should register with ship chandlers and port agents now, and watch Walvis Bay in particular — its bunkering gains during the first diversion wave suggest Namibia will capture an outsized share of this one.
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Visit Laaimylorrie.com| About the Author | |
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Andre Klynsmith Entrepreneur & Technology Enthusiast Andre's expertise spans technology, blockchain, transport, and logistics -- with a passion for innovation and driving positive change across industries. |
| Source: CNBC Africa View source › | 5 June 2026 |
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