Truckers get the cold shoulder in reefer plug point dispute

Alan Peat THE DURBAN Container Terminal (DCT) is still adamantly refusing to take responsibility for a lack of plug points frequently shutting reefer (refrigerated) container trucks out of the terminal – despite pre-accepted container terminal orders (CTOs) which should allow them immediate passage into the quayside reefer storage facility. This follows a meeting last week between irate members of the Durban harbour carriers section of the SA Association of Freight Forwarders (Saaff) and the terminal management – where the main item on the agenda was the issue of an insufficient number of plug points to meet peak demands. According to Malcolm Sodalay, head of Sammar Investments road transport operation and chairman of the carriers’ body, the DCT continued to insist that it had increased the number of plug points from 602 to 810 in the last year. “But it’s obviously still not sufficient for market demand,” he told FTW. He added that another excuse from DCT was that it was not the terminal’s problem when shipping lines gave them wrong advance information on the number of containers being handled – and the number of plug points that were required. “But the big question remains – whose problem is it?” he said. “It’s certainly not ours as the truckers. When we have a valid permit and the necessary CTO, what are we supposed to do? We have to deliver directly to the DCT, and if this is not possible, we then have to make arrangements for private depot storage until the reefers can finally be delivered as per contract.” In the end the cargo owner has to pay, but the trucking companies have to re-schedule all their truck movements to accommodate extra movement required. While DCT did tell the trucker representatives that they would consider relocating some of the excess reefers at available plug points in nearby Pier 1, they refused to accept responsibility for the extra reefer movements and the costs of outside storage. The negative nature of this most recent meeting, Sodalay told FTW, has encouraged the carriers’ association to take the issue one step further. “It is to be raised as a matter of some urgency at the next meeting of the SA Container Terminals’ Advisory Board (SACTAB),” he said, “when we hope that some firm decision can be reached.” FTW was awaiting comment from the relevant port spokesman when this issue went to press.