Durban port escapes strike impact for now

ALAN PEAT Monday, March 7 The port of Durban has so far managed to escape the full impact of the road hauliers’ strike. “It hasn’t, for example, affected any of our ships directly,” Laurie Smith, executive of Rennies Ships Agency, and chairman of the National Port Users Forum (NPUF), told FTW on Monday (March 7). But one concern of Smith’s is the foreign media coverage the strike is receiving. “It is being reported overseas – and not always too accurately,” he said, “and is giving cause for concern to those dealing with SA.” Paul Rayner, MD of DTB Cartage, agreed that the port was so far unaffected, but pointed to the indirect effects coming from the haulage strike. “Failure to uplift and deliver containers is causing a back-up in the Durban Container Terminal (DCT),” he said. “And should the strike continue, this would eventually have a direct effect on the ships at the berth, and those waiting for entry.” The Durban truckers in the port of Durban have been affected in different ways, Rayner added – with his DTB Cartage having been severely hit. But others, he suggested, were able to work normally. “It’s the violence and intimidation that are the main factors, and certain willing drivers are being put under severe pressure to stop work,” he told FTW. “Disruptions have been quite severe in locations like Jacobs, where a lot of transporters are located, and where strikers have been using intimidation and blockades as weapons against those who are still trying to work.” Clifford Blackburn, MD of IDC agreed with the intimidation factor. “Although we haven’t been really affected,” he said, “intimidation has been rife in certain places.” The strike problem is escalated by certain truckers in the industry who are seriously underpaying their drivers. “The National Bargaining Council fixed wages at about R760 per week, plus additionals,” he said. “But some road hauliers are reported to be paying only R600 a week, and one even as low as R470 a week.” Malcolm Sodalay of Sammar Investments, and chairman of the Durban harbour carriers section of the SA Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF), told FTW that a large part of their membership had been affected – and that the intimidation and blockading were of some major concern. A daily update of strike negotiations is posted on FTW's FTNow news service on the web: www.cargoinfo.co.za