It was brought to our attention yesterday that two of our reports posted on Wednesday, November 29, were based on an inaccurate interpretation of the current logistics crisis in South Africa.
In one of the reports, “Cranes for South Africa on their way”, it was wrongfully assumed that the “long reach cranes” Transnet chairman Andile Sangqu had referred to were ship-to-shore (STS) cranes.
Transnet later revealed that the cranes he meant were rubber-tyred gantry (RTG) cranes, which are by no means “long reach cranes”, but are instead used for organising container stacks.
Although Freight News had every reason to assume Sangqu was referring to STS cranes, we should have realised that given the current budgetary constraints and capacity requirements at the state-owned logistics utility, the most expensive of cranes is neither affordable nor required at the moment.
Our own time constraints as an online news source meant we worked on an assumption, and you know what they say about assumptions.
However, if you can’t take the word of the most senior executive in an organisation, whose word can you take?
In another report, “Cape Town Container Terminal (CTCT) clears vessel backlog”, we erroneously put a positive spin on government information that indicated improved performance at the port.
But even attempts to be fair and cut the powers that be some slack in one’s reporting can be misleading, as it was pointed out to us that the backlog-clearing at CTCT was really because of the number of vessels bypassing the port.
As one source from the South African Association of Freight Forwarders remarked: “There are hardly any vessels calling at Cape Town at the moment.”
It has since also been pointed out to us that vessel-working data for Durban, giving the appearance of fewer vessels waiting at outer anchorage, proving that congestion is easing, is really because Maersk and CMA CGM are transhipping Durban-bound containers from Mauritius.
It seems that even when we’re using private-sector information, reporters should always err on the side of caution, which isn’t always possible when you’re chasing daily deadlines.
It brings to mind what Mark Twain wrote: “You get lies, damn lies, and statistics.”
Nevertheless, we appreciate the comments we received on the above-mentioned reports and would like to state that we remain committed to being a credible news source for southern Africa’s logistics and supply chain industry.
Ultimately, there’s more to learn from your stuff-ups than your successes.
We would like to encourage industry to get in touch with us directly (eugeneg@nowmedia.co.za) if we slip up.
