New shipping lobby group on the cards - Stronger bargaining power a major benefit

ALAN PEAT
THE THREE associations representing the shipping lines in this country could soon join forces. As this issue went to press on Monday morning (March 5), Mark Koen, executive at Island View Shipping (IVS) and chairman of the ASL, confirmed that the Association of Shipping Lines (ASL), the Container Liner Operators' Forum (Clof) and the Association of Ships' Agents and Brokers of SA (Asabosa) intended to amalgamate. “It has been proposed,” he said, “although we are still in the process of reviewing it.” However, although Koen added that the final decision should be made this week or early next – he would not, at this stage, discuss the motivation behind the move. But others in the trade who spoke to FTW said that it made sense, suggesting that having three bodies representing ship owners and operators in SA watered down the bargaining strength of each individual body. It also left gaps for the parastatals like National Ports Authority (NPA) and SA Port Operations (Sapo) to indulge in “divide-and-conquer” tactics over issues. But a merger, said one shipping authority, would curtail that tactic, and have all the lines speaking with one strong voice.