The misdeclaration of cargo and the possible consequences if it’s a willful attempt to hoodwink shipping officials, is a hot topic at the moment.
A story carried last week about a R500 000 fine imposed on an exporter over an illegal attempt to send waste paper out of South Africa, received top traction.
In the post (https://tinyurl.com/26e4hsby) it was reported that Durban-based Haashim Agency was slapped with a R500 000 fine or five years in jail suspended for five years for trying to export waste paper without the necessary export permit.
Also popular was a post about the tide for freight rates possibly turning (https://tinyurl.com/yzabjs8r), and an announcement by the Port of Cape Town that they will continue to issue port access permits to truck drivers from Zimbabwe (https://tinyurl.com/2p97fefv).
This is despite ongoing vigilante attempts in South Africa to intimidate foreign-registered truckers, often through violent means.
In the latest development on this issue, an organisation calling itself the United Truck Drivers’ Association is threatening to go on a five-day strike from January 31 to highlight the plight of long-distance drivers from neighbouring countries operating in South Africa – a story Freight News is currently investigating.
Still with South Africa’s road freight sector, a post about the contentious limitation of the height of cargo when carried on the back of a truck, commonly known as the “high cube container issue” (https://tinyurl.com/yck6vjbn), also drew a lot of interest.
On the positive side of things, a high level of readership was focused on progress at Mkhuze Airport, currently being upgraded to the tune of R72 million (https://tinyurl.com/2p9zs7ze).