Many lines blame Portnet 'split'for communication hassles

'No-one knows who to speak to' Alan Peat THERE HAVE been numerous complaints from freight industry players since Portnet split itself into the two new sections Ð the National Ports Authority (NPA) as the "landlords", and SA Port Operations (Sapo) as the day-to-day drivers of the ports. The primary bugbear, according to industry commentators, has been that nobody knows who to speak to for what now that the restructuring has juggled all the industry's previous contacts at the ports. And it's this reformation that's probably at the root of the problem, according to Dave Rennie, c.e. of Unicorn Lines and chairman of the Container Liner Operators Forum (Clof). "We have heard this contact problem as a general complaint," he told FTW, "although Clof has gained a reasonable relationship with the port authorities at a senior level. Clof executives meet quarterly with Sapo, NPA and Spoornet, for example, and meet annually with Transnet c.e. Mafika Mkwanazi." But in general terms, Rennie attributes most of the hassle to the restructuring. "Down the line, in each section, there has been their own restructuring," he said. "This is still filtering down, and is creating confusion at lower levels. "So many elements of transformation have caused this confusion, but this message has been clearly passed on to senior management." But another senior executive in the shipping industry is not so accepting, challenging the way the port authorities fix rates indiscriminately as one example of lack of communication. "They're not particularly co-operative when it comes to driving rates and the like," he said. "They just drive everything through without discussion." And, while the new port sections promise negotiation, this shipping contact describes it as purely window-dressing. He also suggests that Ð while the new port structures have to take blame - a lot of the current grumbles about poor port operations are attributable to Spoornet inefficiencies.