Alan Peat THERE IS currently talk in the SA shipping line community about a “no-show” fee for shippers who double-book cargoes on a number of scheduled liner services then cancel the unused bookings at the last moment. “There has been discussion and input on this recently,” said Maersk Sealand MD Flemming Dalgaard. This overbooking is something we’re always looking at, he told FTW, “because any asset you have must have optimum utilisation.” Not that he’s suggesting that a no-show fee is something that’s likely to happen overnight. “But, if the problem goes on, all the lines would have to impose something like that.” Multiple booking is an industry problem, according to Dave Giraudeau, MD of MOL. “There are just too many late cancellations which are often due to exporters or agents booking with a number of lines as “insurance”. This is extremely disruptive and adds to the line’s already significant costs on the South African coast.” As far as Barry New, MD of P&O Nedlloyd is concerned, it’s again a common problem. “principally because where there’s any schedule disruption - and congestion is one reason why - shippers book a number of vessels to guarantee adequate space.” New described it as “a fail-safe measure” used by shippers and agents when they don’t know if a vessel will be there on time. However, when looking for answers, MOL’s Andrew Weiss feels that a no-show fee would be difficult for lines to impose. “Some lines have put this in their tariff schedules,” he said. “But I don’t know if any of them have actually put it into practice. It’s a sensitive issue in any line’s dealings with its customers.” While Weiss feels that it’s usually rate driven - one of those cases of “they’re cheaper, let’s go with them” type of thinking - he points out that there’s no proof for the lines at the time of cancellations that this is the reason. “It could become pretty clear after the fact,” he said.
