'Receivers should pay the penalty'
Alan Peat
A PORT congestion surcharge on cargoes to Nigeria has shippers up in arms and refusing to fork out.
The surcharge started in Europe, when member lines of the Europe West Africa Rate Agreement faced severe delays at Nigerian ports owing to a customs' inspection programme on import containers.
First they contacted the appropriate Nigerian authorities to try to seek rectification of the situation. But this did not materialise, and the lines intend to impose a surcharge of US$290 per 20-foot container and $580 per 40-foot container effective May 31.
At the SA end, MSC initially announced its intention to impose the surcharge, but subsequently withdrew it.
Other majors on the Nigerian trade, PIL (Pacific International Line), P&O Nedlloyd and Maersk Sealand have not yet followed. On instruction from the Geneva headquarters MSC initially imposed a surcharge of 300 euros per TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit), and E600 per 40-foot, on cargoes bound for the port of Lagos.
This raised the ire of the Western Cape Cargo Owners Association (WCCOA) - and they refused to pay.
"We have no intention of paying congestion surcharges for foreign ports," said WCCOA chairman Colin Schultz, distribution manager of SANS Fibres.
"I appreciate that there appears to be an over-tonnage situation on the West African route, and that the rates have been on the decline. But we feel strongly that - like all the other "surcharges" - this is just another method of collecting revenue."
Nolene Lossau, executive director of the SA Shippers Council, agrees. "We don't like surcharges at all," she told FTW.
And the West African congestion problems are not new, she added. "The lack of efficiency in West Africa has been recognised for a long time," said Lossau.
"We agree with the WCCOA. The lines shouldn't just slap on a surcharge without any warning. They should renegotiate all their rates.
"But, with almost all the price agreements already having been made, the SA exporter can't pass on a sudden surcharge. He just has to bite the bullet and absorb the cost."
Schultz suggests that the surcharge should not be imposed on innocent SA shippers - but on the receivers in Nigeria. The logic behind this is that "the cargo owners at the port/s with the problem must feel the pain" - and place pressure on their respective authorities to sort out the congestion problem.
Said Schultz: "In 1995, you may recall, the lines here tried to do the same when our ports were grinding to a halt.
"Through a concerted effort by the Western Cape Cargo Owners and other interested parties, we turned our port in Cape Town round in 12-days.
"In short, we felt the pain and made it happen."
