TPT will respond to Regulator’s ‘most expensive port’ claims

Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) will respond to claims that Durban is one of the most expensive ports in the world, but not before they have studied the document in which this was reported in depth. TPT acting chief executive Karl Socikwa told FTW they were in possession of the Port Regulator’s “Port Benchmarking and Indicators Research”, an in-depth study of all the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) costs at the SA port network that found total costs at Durban Port to be a whopping 879% above the lowest costing of the 12 ports in the report. “We are aware of what has been said about Durban being expensive and we will respond to the concerns – but only after we have gone through the report and deliberated with the various stakeholders,” Socikwa said. “I don’t want to preempt anything by making comments about this.” He said it was important for Transnet to take note of the Regulator’s report as it was important to benchmark tariffs against those of international ports. “And we do that. We must be in a position where we can defend or justify the tariffs we charge. We are taking note of this very important matter.” Socikwa said it was important to note though that South Africa’s port tariff structure was more complicated. “One must remember that the TNPA has its own set of costings – both published and unpublished. The published tariffs are determined annually with the Regulator while the non-published tariffs like rent for instance are internal. Then there are our costings that are completely separate as we are then responsible for handling charges. It is quite a complicated system.”