Lines to meet Morwe before February 8
Alan Peat
THE PORT authorities - in the form of SA Port Operations (Sapo) c.e. Tau Morwe, and National Ports Authority (NPA) c.e. Siyabonga Gama - have accepted liability for shipping lines' losses during last year's port congestion in Durban.
If last week's agreement is ratified by the lines' deadline of February 8, the US$75 per TEU (twenty foot equivalent unit) port congestion surcharge due to be slapped on shippers and importers from February 15 will be dropped.
"Effectively," said Dave Rennie, Unicorn c.e. and chairman of the Container Liner Operators Forum (Clof), "we faced two major congestion periods last year."
The first was between August and October, and cost the lines an estimated R300-million, he added, and the strike and congestion torn pre-Christmas rush in late November and early December, which totalled R200-m in losses.
The lines' previous compensation claims were rejected by Sapo on a technicality - that they failed to submit detailed information about cargo and expected times of arrival.
"But we had faced massive losses," said Rennie, "and the imposition of the surcharge was a last resort."
However, Portnet's acceptance of liability may have changed the face of things.
The latest plans at Clof are that the lines will have re-submitted claims before the end of January, and will meet with Morwe before February 8.
"This time line was agreed at our first meeting," Rennie said. "It provides a window of opportunity to sort this out before the planned imposition of surcharges on the 15th."
And, although Rennie assumed that full compensation might not be paid,
he told FTW he was
certainly confident that a suitable compromise can be reached.
"Not just for retrospective compensation," he said, "but also an interim agreement that will allow a mechanism for congestion compensation between February and April. - by which time we expect the service level agreements (SLAs) between the lines and Portnet to be finalised."
Rennie, however, rejected a newspaper report that
Clof would be prepared to accept a figure of 16-hours
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for average ship delays at the port - as opposed to the 12-hr breakpoint which was to trigger the imposition of the surcharge.
"We don't want to see any delay at all," he said.
But he does feel that Portnet will be able to replace its ageing quayside equipment and improve its productivity levels in a relatively short time.
"The productivity should improve if Portnet puts the right internal mechanisms into place," he said. "Also, the straddle carriers - key items in the equipment shortage at the port - have started to come in, and will continue to arrive month-to-month during this year."
Three of the industry bodies whose members were to be hit by the surcharge - the SA Chamber of Business (Sacob), the SA Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF) and the SA Shippers Council - are all elated that the surcharge is now likely to be dropped.
The surcharges targeted the wrong people, their spokesmen told FTW, and the right people - the port authorities - will now foot the bill for congestion compensation.
