CROATIAN shipping line Jadroplov has quietly disappeared from the SA route.
Africa regional director, Stjepan Papic, it appears has returned to his homeland, and unconfirmed reports suggest that the line's multi-purpose vessels on the trade have been scrapped.
This follows some distinct signs of a cash-strapped situation for the line last
year, when its eight-year-old service on the Adriatic/ Mediterranean-East/South Africa trade faced serious cut-backs.
Depressed economies in East Africa, Papic told FTW at the time, had resulted in a reduction in import traffic - and the line sliced its thrice-monthly service to once-monthly.
This was followed by an end-of-year spat between the line and its SA agency, Jadro Agencies - and saw Jadroplov terminating the agreement. A matter of lack of cash flow was suggested as the reason for the agency's dissatisfaction with the line.
The end result was a sudden silence from the line reps, and expected vessels failing to appear at the SA ports.
Jadro Agencies, meantime, has successfully reverted to its other agency and ships broker contracts, according to m.d. Terry Sandeman.
Copyright Now Media (Pty) Ltd
No article may be reproduced without the written permission of the editor
To respond to this article send your email to joyo@nowmedia.co.za
