Congestion-hit Durban makes slow progress

Alan Peat THE RECENT ultimatum from the shipping lines to Portnet - "improve the situation at the Port of Durban or face congestion surcharges being imposed" - seems to have had a beneficial effect, according to Dave Rennie, c.e. of Unicorn Lines and chairman of the Container Liner Operators' Forum (CLOF). Nothing startling as yet, he told FTW, but on the right path. "It needs to be sustained until it sees us out of the woods," Rennie said. Average delays on ships getting to their container berths were down to around 25-hours when Rennie talked to FTW on October 9, with the worst delay down to 60-hours from its previous 100-hour figure. "The gross crane working rate," he added, "has also gone up to about 16.8-17 containers per hour. So things have improved somewhat." This, said Rennie, had been a result of the plan of action put together between CLOF and the Port Operations Division (POD) at a meeting urgently called by the port authorities immediately following the lines' ultimatum.