A recent ‘records of decision’ (ROD) issued by the SA Ports Regulator will mean more money in the pockets of those cargo owners who exported containerised shipments in the tax year of 2012/13 – but a lot of extra work for any logistics agents in the supply chain. The ROD states that the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) will issue a credit note within 60 days of the publication of the ROD to applicable clearing agents. This is a return to cargo owners of an amount of R121 million (R136m including interest up to May 31 this year) – the outstanding balance of the R1 billion rebate allocation that was not fully utilised in 2012/13. It followed the regulator’s 2013/14 ROD, which indicated that this remaining portion “must be distributed in an equitable way” – with a pro rata weighted average cost of capital (Wacc) applied. And that took the R121.37 residual rebate, added a 10.72% Wacc return for 13/14 and 10.39% for 14/15, sub-totalling the additional Wacc return at R15.34m – to come up with a total to be distributed of R136.71m. After further rather complex arithmetic the regulator finally determined the additional rebate amounts to be paid to qualifying exporters of motor vehicles and full export containers for 2012/13. New SA-manufactured vehicles on wheels got R31.12 per unit. Added to the original rebate paid in 12/13 this brought the total rebate to R231.12 per vehicle. 20ft/6m full containers got R115.14 extra – bringing the total rebate to R855.14 per container. 40ft/12m and 45ft/13.7m – R283.17 extra, and a total of R2 103.17/container. Now, any other exporting agents intervening between the clearing agents and cargo owners will have the credit note passed back to them until the extra rebate eventually arrives in the paws of the original exporters/producers. And they have the onus thrust upon them to ensure that the applicable credit is reflected back to them as the rightful recipient of the balance of the rebate. And all this passing of credit notes will have to be done by agents as an additional unpaid task, although Margrit Wolff, MD of Mercury Freight, suggested that it would be “fair and justifiable” to deduct a small amount to cover the agents’ bank costs because of the extra administration involved. But questioned on whether this administration would prove a headache for the agents, she suggested that her company and most others that were organised would have computer systems that would take a lot of the sting out of allocating this extra rebate to the appropriate recipients. “No real problem,” she said. Similarly, the only problem that Gordon Pascoe, MD of Megafreight, could see was if extracting the original files had to be done manually. “If you couldn’t do this electronically it would be tricky,” he said. “But I don’t see it as a monumental train smash.” Nor does Sue Wood, operations director of Cargocare Freight. “I can see nothing much that will concern the industry,” she said. “And computers will definitely help out.” System specialist CompuClearing is prepared to help out anybody who has problems, according to MD, Mario Acosta-Alarcon. He told FTW that the CompuClearing system was ready to offer its customers comprehensive access to all information related to cargo dues, containers and charges due to TNPA. “We have stored the agents’ records over the last 10 years,” he said, “and we’re able to make available detailed information on their particulars to facilitate negotiations with the parties involved." The only real problem area is for consolidated container loads – where there can be a fairly large number of shipments in each box. But Mitchell Brooke, logistics development manager of the Citrus Growers’ Association (CGA), had a suggestion of how to overcome this. “There may well be administration problems in determining amounts to be credited with multiple producers’ fruit combined into a single container for export,” he said. “Producers must therefore consult with the respective exporter or logistics agents to determine the amounts and how to receive the credit in terms of the regulator’s determination.” But FTW did hear that consolidators may very well ignore the passing of credits, especially where the rebates only come to a sum like four or five rand an exporter.
