The threat that Transnet
National Ports Authority
would revoke the licences
of ships’ agencies who
have not achieved Level 4
on their broad-based black
economic empowerment
(BBBEE) scorecards seems
to have dissipated for the
time being.
The threat, which
was communicated to
FTW, raised a lot of
concern amongst some
of the agents who were
struggling to achieve this
level – particularly on the
equity-sharing section of
BBBEE. And, indeed, two
reasonable-sized agents
had even approached
maritime lawyer, Andrew
Pike, of Van Velden Pike
Incorporated, to register
complaints against this
TNPA ruling.
“They’re big companies,”
he said, “and the SA
agencies, which are partly
foreign-owned, have a
problem with giving away
equity.” But he saw certain
remedies for this problem.
“The Maritime Charter says,
for example, that you can
gain points elsewhere,” he
told FTW.
Riad Khan, CEO of
the SA Ports Regulator,
told FTW that the SA
Association of Ship
Operators and Agents
(Saasoa) had laid a
complaint with the regulator.
“But they then asked for it
to be suspended, while they
discussed the issue with the
TNPA.” This now remains
in limbo until Saasoa
decides what to do.
FTW did a phone-around
of agents and others in the
shipping industry to discuss
the problem, but we didn’t
find any of the complainants
amongst the agents we
talked to.
Andrew Thomas, CE of
Ocean Africa Container
Lines (OACL), told FTW
that empowerment had been
part of government policy
for a number of years.
And, while the Maritime
Charter requires a score of
65% to register as Level
4, and some of what he
described as “white-owned,
one-man bands” could find
it difficult to comply with
the equity element, he did
believe that everyone would
comply. “However, it’s not
something that can happen
overnight,” he added.
He also pointed out
that the TNPA was
responsible for promoting
transformation in
the economy, and its
requirement for agents to
achieve Level 4 was part of
this task.
Grant Stevenson, MD
of Rennies Ships Agency,
was quite content about his
company’s status. “We’ve
achieved Level 3,” he told
FTW, “and Level 4 is quite
achievable.”
He did however feel that
TNPA wasn’t quite playing
the game. “It was withdrawn
from the final version of the
Port Regulations, but TNPA
went ahead and imposed
it anyway. But we, and all
the other companies, will
comply in the end.”
And Mahomad Kajee,
divisional CE of King &
Sons, was also a contented
man. “I’m also responsible
for Grindrod Ships Agency,”
he told FTW, “and we’ve
already achieved Level 4.”
But he also thought that
TNPA was trying to take
the law into its own hands.
“It’s not legislation,” he said,
“and they can’t penalise
people for it.”
But worried ships’ agents
can possibly draw a breath
of relief. The TNPA has told
FTW that it is not presently
pressing the issue.
In the TNPA response,
which took a long two
weeks to reach us, the
authority said: “Saasoa and
the TNPA decided, after
several discussions, that an
action plan was needed to
get those few vessel agents
who are not at the Level
4 BBBEE to commit to
achieving this goal.
“The view was that
Saasoa would play an
ongoing facilitating role in
this regard. However, at this
point, a decision has not
been finalised on this issue.”
TNPA backs down on BEE ships’ agency demand – for now
25 May 2012 - by Alan Peat
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