Delays approach magical 16-hour level

...but surcharge stays THE AVERAGE ship delay at the Durban Container Terminal (DCT) is now getting close to the magical 16-hour level. “The average berthing delay is now 19 hrs,” said Dave Rennie, c.e. of Unifeeder and chairman of the Container Liners Operators Forum (Clof), “with the maximum at about 50-hrs.” The reason for the interest in this 16-hr figure is that the US/Southern Africa Conference (Ussac) - which is estimated to handle about 70% of the seafreight traffic on the US-SA trade - will then withdraw the current US$75 per TEU (twenty foot equivalent unit) congestion surcharge at the port. When introduced in December, Ussac said: “It is intended that the surcharge will remain in place until the average daily delay to vessels berthing in the port of Durban, as measured over a two-month period, reduces to below 16-hrs.” This followed serious backlogs caused by the Cosatu stayaway in October, which - along with the usual pre-Christmas traffic rush - jammed up the harbour and the container terminal for about a month. And, at a cost of about US$14 000 a day to run a large container ship - these delays were costing the lines a small fortune in down time. But things have definitely got better since then, when delays of up to five days were common. “It certainly has improved,” said Rennie, “although you have to take into account that it is happening in a slow period of the year.” The signs are right that things could be on the path to further improvement, he added, but always depending on the port authorities keeping all their ducks in a row. “We are hoping that Sapo - with the various initiatives underway - have things under control,” Rennie told FTW.