Last ditch effort to force stay of execution Leonard Neill AS THIS issue went to press on Monday morning, SA Port Operations’ (Sapo) executive committee was locked in an emergency meeting to discuss measures to combat congestion at the Durban Container Terminal. At a specially arranged forum in Durban on Saturday (November 2), involving Sapo and port users, chief executive Tau Morwe approved a proposal for the creation of an interim body, comprising representatives from Sapo, Transnet and the Container Liner Operators Forum, to work jointly to assess which short-term initiative would speed up productivity. A neutral third party terminal operator will be appointed to the interim committee, which will immediately review previous studies undertaken by consultants on the container terminal, and decide which course to take. With a week to go before the proposed US shipping lines’ surcharge deadline of November 15, port users agreed with Morwe that every effort had to be made to avoid additional costs. There was general acceptance at Saturday’s meeting that instant co-operation from port workers was essential, as unions plan go-slows to protest eventual privatisation of port facilities. “There has been an improvement in loading times of containers and we hope this will continue,” said a container liner representative this week. “We have to hope this type of co-operation can be strengthened, and that the weather holds. Then, with the Sapo executive going all out to improve matters at the terminal, we can avert the surcharge and move towards improvements at the terminal.”
