FTW sleuth hits a dead end in search for ‘ghost’ shipping line

THERE IS what appears to be a ghost line sailing the SA seas – touting a bulk operator’s function on its website that no-one has ever heard of, but which claims to be Southern Africa’s largest bulk shipping operator, shipping between 15 and 18 million tons per annum globally. FTW started its search for this company – South African Line (SAL) – after receiving an e-mail from a reader complaining about some unsatisfactory dealings with the line. The contact details she had on the freight documents gave SAL’s Cape Town address as 16 Maritime Way, Gateway Crescent, Sea Point; telephone number 079 185-9518; and contact name Ms Meryl Houghton. FTW could not find Maritime Way or Gateway Crescent on the street map of Cape Town, and the phone number doesn't even ring - just beeps and that's it. We then again tried the web page – http:// southafricanline.com – and once more exposed a few anomalies. First of all, SAL claims its head office address is Quadrant House, Victoria Embankment, Durban 4001. But that’s an odd claim, because there’s nobody in Quadrant House except Grindrod – and they’ve never heard of SAL. It then led to another part of the Grindrod group – Island View Shipping (IVS), which can genuinely claim to be SA’s largest bulk operator – and asked MD Tim McClure if he’d ever heard of this mysterious, but apparently big, bulk operator. He was just as mystified, but became even more so when we read out some of SAL’s web page to him. “But that’s off our web page,” he said. “Verbatim, word-for-word.” And, after checking out the web page himself, McClure quickly came back to tell us that not only was a lot of wording directly lifted from the IVS web site, but one of the pictures was also lifted – with the lettering on the ship’s side doctored to read SAL instead of IVS. But his other investigations still hadn’t turned up any names or places. There is also a fax number (086 554-6092) and an e-mail address info@southafricanline.com) on the SAL web site. But the fax number can’t be traced, because FTW is told that it’s a number directly linked through to an e-mail site. And, although FTW editor Joy Orlek e-mailed the company asking for further information on its services – she got no reply. At our print deadline, our investigation had come to a standstill. But, if any of you readers have had any dealings with the company, or know any contact details for SAL – please let us know.