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.