‘Lines could drop calls if outages are applied to ports’

IT WILL be “a sad day” for shipping, indeed the whole of South Africa, if regular power outages are applied at ports along the lines of the mining sector, says Alan Jones, Safmarine’s outgoing Africa region executive. “It would be really detrimental if it became a trend in our ports. Lines already experience some berthing delays and port productivity is not yet at the levels that everyone would like them to be. “Regular downtime could impact on port productivity and therefore on ships. One of the solutions could therefore be for the lines to restrict the number of ports of call to limit the impact and to try to sustain schedule integrity. If it does transpire, importers will have serious problems getting cargo delivered to plant and exporters will miss out,” says Jones. Concerns about power cuts in the port of Durban cannot be sufficientlyunderscored, given that almost 50% of Safmarine's import and export volumes move via the port, heavyweight clients including petrochemicals group Sasol, mining giant BHP Billiton and the fruit sectors. Commenting on the multi-billion rand Coega development, still controversial in the minds of many, Jones believes that as a transhipment hub it has the potential to generate huge revenues for South Africa in that it is ideally situated midway between the Americas, Far East and Asia. “Safmarine would look at any viable port that could offer improved efficiency and quicker turnabout of ships, ultimately the deciding factor for all shipping lines. “Were efficiency and productivity to come about at Coega, shipowners would automatically be attracted – even global players who may not be operating in South Africa.” Further to Safmarine chairman Eivind Kolding’s observation during his first official visit to South Africa last November that Safmarine was performing better financially than sister liner, Maersk, Jones says: “We have consistently produced reasonable profits and will continue to focus on the path of profitable growth, not just growth.” Safmarine’s global profits stood at US$83 million last year, up more than a third on the previous year.