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.
Payback time for shippers
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