Sapo team agrees to alternative plan ALAN PEAT AFTER A big blow-up brewing between perishable exporters and SA Port Operations (Sapo) in Cape Town over the Sapo proposal to slap an afterstack charge of R1 800 for “direct” containers, the port operators have come up with another possible solution. A senior member of the Cape Town shipping fraternity told FTW that, for two decades or more, the port had accepted these so-called “directs” on the last or second last day of vessel loading. But at the end-October meeting of the Port Liaison Forum (PLF) in the Mother City, Sapo declared that it had been decided to impose a late arrival penalty of R1 846 per 40-foot (12-metre) container on these “directs”. This was immediately challenged by members of the industry who said that - if Sapo can handle directs provided they are paid a penalty fee - there is no reason for them not to be able to handle them without the charge. However, at a meeting with the fruit exporters and others involved in the perishable export trade, representatives of the SA Association of Freight Forwarders (Saaff), the Harbour Carriers’ Association and the PLF, the Sapo team, led by business unit manager Oscar Borchards, came up with an alternative plan. Said Mike Walwyn, manager of Morgan Air Cargo’s new seafreight section and chairman of the PLF: “It’s very positive in a lot of ways, and aimed at fitting in with the SA-Europe Container Service’s (SAECS) Number 1 service.” The port operators are now going to accept a number of “directs” from perishable exporters on the Monday, he told FTW, provided these are pre-planned – allowing for exporters to transport the fruit that has to be moved over the weekend. Sapo has also adjusted the stack timing, which, Walwyn added, has a lot of benefits for exporters and the land transporters in the Cape perishable industry. The stacks are now to be opened on Thursday of each week at 06:00-hours and now only to close on Saturday at 20:00-hrs. This, for example, said Walwyn, will allow road hauliers two trips a day between the Hex River cold storage – the largest in the southern hemisphere – and the port. “The fact that they are also going to work a full 24-hours on Thursday and Friday instead of with the previous 22:00-hrs-06:00-hrs shut down, along with these extra hours of opening on the Saturday, will make the truckers very happy as far as vehicle utilisation is concerned,” he said. There is through a condition attached to this offer. “Sapo has 2 000 plug points for reefer (refrigerated) containers in the port,” said Walwyn, “and is looking for 80% utilisation at peak hours. “So Borchards’ team is going to monitor this alternative solution until the end of January, and will then finally decide whether they can still keep on handling “directs” - or whether they feel that they can’t unless they impose a surcharge.”
