News / Tariff-induced trade diversification tales #17: MSC's South Africa-China fruit pivot

Photo: VesselFinder

A fresh example of tariff-induced trade diversification was on display yesterday when MSC announced it would add a Cape Town call to its Asia-West Africa Iroko service from next month, reintroducing a direct call for South Africa exporters targeting Asian markets.

It follows the 15 October signing of a new stone fruit protocol agreement between South Africa and China, which opened the PRC market to exporters of five South African fruits – peaches, nectarines, plums, prunes, and apricots.

South Africa agriculture minister John Steenhuisen said the agreement would help offset President Trump’s 30% tariffs on its exports to the US, which had been one of the main markets for fruit growers in the western Cape region in Cape Town’s hinterland.

“This protocol is part of a broader strategy to make South African agriculture less dependent on traditional buyers and more responsive to new consumption patterns, such as China’s growing middle class, which is driving demand for high-quality agricultural products”, he said.

“The opening of the Chinese market could unlock approximately R400m ($23.6m) for us over the next five years, a figure which is projected to double over the next ten years.

“We are of the view that the inaugural 2025/26 export season can generate approximately R28m and R54m in 2026/27,” he added.

According to South African figures, China imported more than 21m cartons of peaches last year, as well as 20m cartons of plums, which “exceeds South Africa’s entire seasonal export volume”.

Other talks held around the ceremony in Beijing included opening China’s cherry market to South African growers, as well as relaunching beef exports curtailed after an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.

Meanwhile, South African fruit growers have experienced a bumper year – according to industry body Hortgro, annual stone fruit exports, which are entering their peak season, are set to increase 6% this year, while citrus fruit exports, which were earlier in the year and largely escaped tariffs, grew 19% over 2024, to reach 203.4m cartons shipped.

On a back-of-an-envelope basis that one 40ft reefer container can carry 1,680 cartons, annual fruit exports out of South Africa could easily top 300,000 teu.

The response of MSC to these developments is fascinating because it shows how carriers are reacting to tariff-induced trade diversification.

In October, the 6,000 teu MSC Tasman VI, deployed on the carrier’s Asia-South Africa Ingwe service, made an inducement call at Cape Town, according to the eeSea liner database. Largely a headhaul-heavy service carrying Asian imports, Ingwe’s proforma South Africa calls are normally restricted to Durban and Coega.

However, rather than extending the Ingwe service to Cape Town, MSC has decided to insert a call at the port on the backhaul leg of its Asia-West Africa Iroko service. The first will be the 8,700 teu MSC Anchorage, due on 12 December.

“This strategic enhancement provides a direct connection between Cape Town and Asia, offering faster transit times and improved service for both dry and reefer cargo,” said an MSC advisory.

Transit times from South Africa to Asia – a crucial factor in perishables supply chains – will be Singapore in 15 days, to Xiamen in 21 days, to Ningbo in 24 days, and to Nansha in 27 days. Under MSC’s current network, shipments from Cape Town are feedered to Coega to join the Ingwe service and take at least 30 days to reach Singapore.

The move has also allowed MSC to rationalise its South Africa-US capacity. Until October, MSC partnered with Maersk on the US to South Africa service (marketed by Maersk as AMEX), which deployed nine ships, with an average capacity of 4,000 teu.

However, with no forward schedules beyond this month, the service appears to have been cancelled, and will be replaced by MSC’s new standalone USWASA service, which will also deploy nine ships, of 4,200 teu average capacity.

In terms of port coverage, USWASA will be expanded to feature calls at MSC’s West African hubs of Tema and Lome and its Caribbean transhipment hub of Freeport. The old AMEX service focused solely on South Africa and US east coast ports.