Saaff ‘actively involved’ in lobbying against surcharges

A welter of e-mails and phone calls has inundated FTW in response to the matter of the container shortage surcharge. And what comes across loud and clear is the enmity between shippers and carriers. The primary complaint is that container users should not be held liable for something that is plainly the responsibility of the shipping lines and container leasing companies. One reader added the rather snide comment: “I guess we have to get used to it that shipping lines are becoming like banks. Neither of them knows the meaning of the word ‘customer’.” But he also questioned the overall activity on the issue of clearing and forwarding sector body, the SA Association of Freight Forwarders (Saaff). “How much does it do to present the forwarders’ interest case?” he asked. Dave Watts, the association’s Durban-based consultant on maritime matters, took exception to this complaint. “I am unsure what is expected of Saaff in this regard,” he told FTW. “There is an international shortage of containers, and this shortage impacts on container traffic worldwide.” This, he added, was clearly outlined by Lars Reno Jakobsen, head of Maersk network and product, based in Copenhagen. “Perhaps the reader’s need for Saaff intervention is due to the fact that Jakobsen was CEO of Maersk SA up to 2009,” Watts suggested. If the reader was looking at other surcharges – particularly the congestion surcharge applicable on the SA trade lanes – Watts insisted that Saaff was also active. “We are involved in on-going discussions with Transnet Port Terminals (TPT), the real responsible party, to improve service levels in road uplift and delivery. “This would assist in reducing backlogs and a return to normal levels of service.” If the reader is still not convinced that the association is making every effort possible to correct the shipping industry’s problems, Watts added a final comment. “Saaff,” he said, “is also using other channels to address the broader issues of Transnet’s seeming inability to overcome never-ending service delivery issues – both to ocean carriers and landside operators.”