For the port operator Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) to push up its rates by 7% is “ridiculous”, according to Rhett van Zyl, MD of CMA CGM Shipping Agencies. Responding to TPTs proposed April 1 rates hike, he said: “It is ridiculous in today’s environment that TPT even thinks of increasing its rates when other port operators around the world are either holding rates or decreasing them to assist lines and shippers.” Van Zyl was also adamant that the port terminal operator needed to look at increasing productivity levels before looking at rate increases. “Productivity levels last year were almost at record lows, and Durban experienced huge congestion again,” he told FTW. “So, to demand a 7% increase under these circumstances is unacceptable.” He also fully agreed with a statement made to FTW by a prominent freight industry executive that the TPT rates announcement was only possible because of its monopolistic status. Van Zyl supported the standard free market maxim that, where a company held 100% control of a market, there was no competition element to restrain price levels or improve productivity levels.
