‘The ball is now in Transnet’s court’

Ray Smuts THEY MAY be at loggerheads over the port surcharge but where the container lines are in agreement with cargo owners is that they would be happier if it fell away. That was the clear message last week from Peter Ehrenreich, MD of Maersk South Africa. “What is not generally realised by the community is that the surcharge was not decided on by the shipping lines in South Africa but by our head offices (overseas) who are saying ‘We have spent millions of dollars and enough is enough; something has to happen.’ “Now the business world is upset and starting to complain to government, which is a good thing because it needs to understand what is going on in our ports.” Ehrenreich believes the ball is now firmly in the court of Transnet for it is their action - or lack of it - that will determine the future of the surcharge; $100USD per TEU and $200USD per FEU. He says should there be a marked and consistent improvement over the eight-week period to August 1 the surcharge will fall away in Cape Town and Durban. However, should one or either of the ports lag behind over this period, it will remain in effect. “We want the ports to show over those eight weeks that they can contain average delays to below 16 hours.” Ehrenreich is encouraged by certain measures already put in place by Sapo. These include servicing cranes in Cape Town when there are no ships in the terminal. This was previously done while vessels were awaiting services.