The export community enthusiastically welcomed the news this week that the daily updated stack dates for all shipping lines will be available through Cargo Info Africa on the Internet.
The move puts an end to the thousands of hours spent by exporters and forwarders checking telephonically with ships' agents and Portnet on the status of the rigid stack dates.
The development was made possible by Portnet's initiative to develop a living Internet site that went beyond static information about the ports of South Africa to include operational information that clients would find useful (see page 6).
The stack dates for Durban, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth are already live and being updated each working day. East London and Johannesburg are expected to follow shortly.
The consequences of sending export containers to a terminal outside the confirmed time of stack dates can be dire. Consequently the export community daily spends wasteful hours contacting the port authorities or the ships' agents regarding each vessel on which cargo is booked to establish if provisional dates have been confirmed or dates changed.
Combined with other modules of information on CIA aimed specifically at importers, exporters and forwarders in South Africa, the stack date information provides another powerful reason why each firm in this sector should have at least one PC connected to the Internet.
Cargo Info Africa is the Internet arm of Freight & Trading Weekly. The information it maintains on a daily basis gives users information power that has never been available before.
Included among the modules are:
