No end in sight to City Deep gridlock

While the shippers, forwarders, shipping lines and transporters are working flat out to get the cargo flow in and out of Gauteng back to the pre- Transnet strike level, the City Deep log-jam is still beating their best efforts. There’s still a backlash from the strike at the City Deep inland port, said Roger Phillip of Deutsche Afrika Linien (DAL). And Francois Blignaut of MSC Logistics described things as “pretty desperate”. “For depots it’s a serious problem at the moment,” he added. “With Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) unable to move all the traffic going through City Deep, the other depots are obviously also getting jammed up. “I don’t think any facilities can handle the number of trucks currently looking for space.” ‘JJ’ van Jaarsveld of SA Container Depots (SACD) expressed the same sentiments. “It’s a huge problem,” he told FTW, “and from an export point of view it’s a major constraint. “With the exports, we’re battling with the lack of rail capacity.” It’s also leaving bulk bookers out in the cold, according to Blignaut. “TFR is rejecting bulk bookings,” he said, “and the mineral exporters are being hit hard.” The only answer Van Jaarsveld can see is the private sector depots coming in to help take the strain off City Deep. Certainly, the inland port just doesn’t seem to be able to do it themselves, according to a ship’s agent. “It’s now about three months since the end of the Transnet strike,” he said, “and City Deep’s productivity has just not improved. They’re not accepting empties to rail back to the ports – even although the lines are pleading for empties to ship back to the Far East. And, although they say they’ll take fulls, we’re only getting them through in dribs and drabs, and a lot are just being left behind.” The answer to the problem, according to TFR, will come from the new booking system they’ve put into place. But this system is meeting with various levels of acceptance. Fred Jacobs, Safmarine’s SA corporate affairs director – in his usual diplomatic fashion – told FTW that the line “was aware” that the increasing demand for the transportation of containers by rail had put pressure on capacity at TFR’s City Deep terminal. “We, as Safmarine, support the initiatives, such as the booking system TFR is putting in place to deal with these capacity constraints. “We believe that it is an attempt on TFR’s part to stabilise the supply chain and we support them in this regard.” Phillip of DAL is more circumspect. “Under this, according to TFR, you can place your export bookings, and they will tell you whether they can accept them or not – depending on the stack dates for the ship.” But Phillip said he had his doubts about this TFR assurance. “Imports seem to be getting better,” he told FTW, “but we’re just not confident enough to use City Deep for our exports.”