Alan Peat RESPONDING TO the story we carried in a previous edition of FTW about reefer (refrigerated) containers now by-passing Durban harbour - because of port congestion - and being diverted to the likes of Maputo and Cape Town, another reader’s research into the issue reveals that this may be purely an individual problem. “I talked to a number of people - both in SA Port Operations (Sapo) at the harbour and amongst outside service providers - and found that this diversion is not being generally experienced,” said Freightliner’s Kevin Martin, vice-chairman of the Durban harbour carriers’ section of the SA Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF). “Everything appears to be quite normal on reefer throughput at the harbour, according to what I heard.” Management at the Durban container terminal suggested that they were quite happy with the numbers being handled and that, while experiencing cyclical ups-and-downs, were not convinced that there was any significant drop-off in reefer numbers through Durban. “I also talked to management at the reefer storage unit,” said Martin, “and they confirmed that their current volumes were “pretty good” - and no less than they expected.” This unit has 600 plug points for reefers, and Martin was told that the average number in the unit at any time was about 450. “This is what they expect for this time of year,” he said. “Anyway, they told me that - even when things are extra busy at the storage point - more vessels are now running reefers, so any build-up is cleared quite rapidly. “So there appears to be no reason for perishable exporters to complain about consignments being spoiled by harbour delays, or missing their ships because of congestion.” Martin also talked to a major road haulier of reefer containers into Durban, and was again told that numbers were not diminishing in any way.
