Navis-related delays have cost lines dearly

Navis-related delays at the Durban harbour have had a severe effect on the bottom line and some lines have even considered by-passing the country’s coastline altogether because of the chaos, according to Mediterranean Shipping Company’s head of operations in Africa Captain Ian Rosario. He says although the delays, which once stood at around seven days had dropped to three, it was still costing shipping lines money. “When ships lie idle, it costs as much as US$50 000 a day in charter fees, and on top of that we have crew and fuel costs. When the idle vessel finally leaves the harbour, we have no choice but to go full steam ahead, meaning the fuel consumption is almost double than if we travelled at an economical speed,” he says. Rosario says MSC sustained huge losses due to Navis-related delays but they were not the only ones taking a financial knock. The entire shipping industry has suffered, and some are re-examining their operations in South Africa. However, he adds that the new system at the port is better than the previous one but there is a long way to go towards eradicating the problems and avoiding backlogs. A spokesman for NileDutch said the problems around Navis were improving, and they believed that in a month the system would be far more efficient than at present.