Industry slams new keel limit ruling

Transnet National Ports Authority has had a knee-jerk reaction to the issue of ships being grounded in Durban harbour over past weeks. It has immediately increased the necessary keel clearance from 30 centimetres to 60cms for all berths in the harbour, a move that has not pleased the industry. TNPA is also demanding that any vessel nearing the limits should inform the authorities and make a tidal entry to its berth. Three ships have grounded or touched bottom at different berths around Durban harbour in recent weeks – an occurrence that the shipping industry agrees is something out of the ordinary. A strong suggestion that is doing the rounds is that it is possibly a result of negligence on the part of TNPA. It was pointed out to FTW that such a sequence of events (of ships grounding) was most unusual in the recent history of the Port of Durban (or any port around the world, for that matter). And that these events were the result of one of two things: Either the ship’s draught (depth) is more than the allowable charted draught of that area of the port; or the charted draught is wrong. As FTW was assured by witnesses that two of the ships were within the permissible draught limits (the third, we were told, was down at the stern because of load distribution), the most logical assumption was that the charted draught marks had changed. The point made by our interviewees (who all wished to remain nameless because of the sensitivity of the issue) was that harbour bottoms were never still. Tidal movement and “scouring” (caused by ships’ or tugs’ propellers) are just two of many reasons for movement, and Durban’s loose sandbars just add to the problem. And this requires constant monitoring, or declared depths may have changed, and ships bottom out. “What’s got to be asked is who is doing the sounding,” said one shipowner executive. “Is it the Hydrological Society? If so, where’s the report? Or is it the dredger barge masters? “And who’s policing them?” Berths 105-205 (both Pier 1 and Pier 2 container terminals) – have a depth of 12.8 metres (except 107 which is still being dredged). The previous 12.5m permissible draught has now been dropped to 12.2m, and all near the limit will have to apply for tidal entry. And this has raised a point being debated by insurers’ group, P&I. Not only do ships need to make a tidal entry, they must sign a letter of indemnity (LoI). “Signing our rights away,” said one shipping executive. P&I’s part in this has been fighting to get ships already on the water and loaded to the previous keel clearance into Durban without having to sign that LoI. What is enraging the shipowners is that 30cm doesn’t sound like much. But apply that to a 10 000-TEU container ship and you’re talking about what seafaring people call “an awful lot” of boxes having to be shortshipped. “And that 30cm keel clearance has been the norm at Durban as long as I’ve been in shipping, and we’ve never had this sort of problem before,” said one of our grey-haired contacts. And, in what can be construed as an admission, FTW has been told that TNPA is busy re-doing the soundings. Checking the stable door after the horse has bolted? What some of our contacts said about the issue: * “They (TNPA) now say what’s done all over the world is 60cm, and that’s what they want. It’s like a roller coaster.” * “We’re sick of TNPA talking down to us and telling us what to do. TNPA, without us you are nothing.” * “It’s time we taught them that we are their customers.” * “We’re going to lose a lot of cargo because everybody must reduce their draught and their load. Ridiculous.” Obviously, the port authority didn’t predict the sudden growth in ship size, driven by a cascade of much larger ships being redeployed on the SA trades. And now, it seems, TNPA’s come up short, and they’re not clear when the container berths will be deepened to the required depth. However, Karl Socikwa, CE of Transnert Port Terminals (TPT), assured FTW that the work on the Durban Container Terminal (DCT) berths on Pier 2 would include their dredging down to 15m from their current 12.8m . “We’re planning around 2016/17 for the upgrading and deepening of the quays.”