Alan Peat ALL THREE shipping conferences on the SA trade have suspended the port congestion surcharge at Port Elizabeth and Cape Town with Durban still left in their bad books. These suspensions were dated August 1 by the Europe Southern Africa Conference (ESAC), August 6 by the US Southern Africa Conference (USAC), and August 15 by the G8 Forum on the Far East trade. This follows the different dates of imposition of the US$100 per TEU (twenty foot equivalent unit) surcharge. Their congestion measuring mechanisms stated that a port must have a 16-hour average delay or below for two full, consecutive months before the surcharge can be lifted. The situation in Durban is still “serious” according to all three conferences, and that means that the port will have to bear the surcharge until an October date at the earliest. All the releases from the shipping consortia also expressed “disappointment” that “no significant improvement in productivity at SA ports has been detected”. They added that “handling productivity remains poor and continues to cause delay” and demanded improvement in this area. The lines all stated that they would continue to monitor operational performance and, “should deterioration beyond a 16-hour berthing delay (averaged over a four-week period) be detected - the lines will seek to re-impose the surcharge”. The worry now amongst port users is that delay-cutting diversions of ships or cargoes to PE and Cape Town during the peak seafreight season of the year could very well see congestion rearing its ugly head again at these ports.
