Legal hiccups delay service level agreements

Alan Peat
THERE HAS been a legalistic hiccup in the completion of the long-awaited shipping line/port authorities’ service level agreements (SLAs).
According to information released to FTW by the Container Liner Operators Forum (Clof), everything was ready to go but then SA Port Operations’ (Sapo) legal eagles caught sight of a hitch.
This, the law advisers told Sapo, was a conflict between the standard trading conditions (STCs) - on which the already-agreed SLA format was based - and some of the harbour regulations.
This means that the revised STCs still need to come back to the lines for their perusal so that they know the conditions they will have to stand by.
Another delay on the lines’ side is the progress of priority berthing, where approved shipping lines/consortia will receive priority at selected berths in Durban. A plan that is also applicable to Port Elizabeth and Cape Town.
But the Durban expansion from the initial test berth (Berth 204) has not yet been finalised and the lines have to know how they will fit into the final system before committing themselves to SLAs.
“The final SLAs are dependent on that coming into play,” FTW was told.