Competition complaint

The SA fruit industry has
a major grumble about the
port congestion surcharge
that was imposed by the
lines last year during the
ports strike.
One piece of the
conduct of the shipping
lines at that time so
aggravated the fruit
exporters that they
have taken their
combined complaint
to the Competitions
Commission (CC).
“As an industry,”
said Stuart Symington,
CEO of the Fresh
Produce Exporters’
Forum (FPEF), “we’ve
complained that the
US$150 port congestion
surcharge imposed on
40-foot containers by nine
shipping lines was put on
simultaneously.
“We feel that’s unfair.”
And this complaint has
been lodged with the CC.