Alan Peat A QUIET moratorium has been placed on the productivity inefficiency surcharge (PIS) imposed at Richards Bay by the bulk lines using the multi-purpose terminal (MPT) as the lines and the port authorities try to work together to improve the snail’s pace productivity at the installation. This temporary moratorium, said Mark Koen of Island View Shipping (IVS) - one of the main users of the terminal - was agreed at the last meeting in September. “We shall get together again sometime in November,” he told FTW, “and will revise all our graphs and charts.” This to work out the figures and see if the surcharge should be re-imposed or not, Koen added. At the moment, the MPT is only managing to achieve a loading rate of 80-tons per hour - considerably down on what the shipping lines’ assessment of the equipment capability at the terminal would indicate as an optimum rate of 120-t/hr. “Some of the ships have managed to achieve a loading rate of 120,” said Koen. “But the port has been pretty quiet recently allowing them to fling all the equipment at one ship.” Also, the last four of the 10 haulers - bought by IVS and leased to the MPT to overcome the terminal’s lack of capex - have just been put into place, Koen added. But, while the new haulers have helped “to a certain extent”, he said: “The proof of the pudding is when the port starts getting really busy again.”
