... as Durban volume pressure continues
Alan Peat
THE PROPOSED diversion of ships to Port Elizabeth to relieve the strain on the congested Port of Durban - provided Spoornet would agree to equalisation of rates to Gauteng - seems to have come to naught (FTW August 17, 2001).
Alan Rolfe, ops manager of MSC and chairman of the ASL (Association of Shipping Lines), told FTW that he had heard of no diversions to date. At the same time, he questioned the logic behind using PE as a back-up port at present. "They only have three gantry cranes just now," he said, "so the port can't take too much of an overflow anyway."
It doesn't appear to have got past discussion stage, according to Dave Rennie, c.e. of Unicorn Lines and chairman of the Container Liner Operators Forum. "All I know is that we discussed it - PE as a relief valve for Durban," he said. "But it didn't seem to go any further and certainly I didn't hear of any equalisation being offered."
Not that the congestion is getting too much better, Rennie added. "It's not great at the moment, and the Cosatu actions are not helping."
High volumes continue, and Rennie expects the terminal to remain under pressure because of the equipment shortage problem.
When he talked to FTW a week ago, the average crane rate in Durban was about 15 containers an hour and the average ship delay was down to 18 hours, with the worst delay expected being 60 hours.
"But that," said Rennie, "is certainly better than the 30hr average, and the 85hr worst delay, that it was."
An inevitability, he added, saying that this was just reaping the reward of years of under-investment at the port.
"All we can do," Rennie told FTW, "is help Portnet on a micro-management basis, and try to proactively sort things out as best we can."
But he describes the port as "being on the edge" all the time.
"If anything puts us just the slightest bit out of kilter we go backwards," he said.
