Urgent call for finalisation of PCCs

The planners in the National Department of Transport (DoT) told FTW they were hoping to finalise the formation of the national and regional port consultative committees (PCCs) by end- November. But, countered Andrew Thomas, CEO of Ocean Africa Container Lines (OACL), it was “a disgrace” that they had already taken so long. These are vital advisory bodies, he said, linking the private and public sectors on all matters related to port operations and development – and give a voice to all the companies and bodies involved in the maritime freight industry. It’s all part of the same concept as the port regulator – with the legislation behind both the regulator and the PCCs incorporated in the new National Ports Act (NPA), No 12 of 2005. “They were both empowered five years ago,” said Thomas. “And, although the port regulator has been up and running since August 6 last year, we are still left waiting for the deployment of these PCCs.” “We have been told on a number of occasions that the PCCs would be under way in such-and-such a month,” he said. “That month has arrived, and nothing – just silence, until the next promise.” The legislative concept of the PCCs was defined for FTW by Tony Norton, maritime law director of lawyers, ENS – who also acts as a legal adviser for the SA shipping industry and is chairman of the National Port Users’ Forum (NPUF). “It’s all in sections 81 and 82 of the NPA,” he said. “Section 81 states that the minister of transport must appoint a PCC for each port.” This to consist of the harbour master of the relevant port, two persons representing the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA); three representing the local port users; two representing the respective local and provincial governments of the area in which the port is situated; two representing organised labour; and one representing the SA Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa). But, although the DoT has already prepared lists of names appointed for each port, they ran into the problem of being prematurely out of date, according to port regulator, Riad Kahn. Mpumi Dwueba, the DoT official handling the PCC issue, confirmed Kahn’s supposition that the initial lists had been flawed. “For example,” she added, “the ports of Saldanha and Richards Bay both had major changes in their lists of PCC appointees.” But the department has left the PCCs at the ports around the country to go ahead with what they could, and has meantime prepared a second, corrected list of names. “We are going to go for a second set of meetings at all the ports in October,” Dwueba told FTW. “At these, we will finalise all the names on the committees, and each of their representatives to the national PCC.” Dwueba then intends to put all the new lists before the Minister of Transport Sibusiso Ndebele for him to sign and have gazetted. “We hope that this, and the first meeting of the national port consultative committee (NPCC) can be arranged about the end of November,” she added. When told the content of this interview, Thomas replied: “We’ll believe it when we see it.” But he remained adamant that the PCCs must be pushed rapidly towards finalisation. “These committees play such a key role in relationships between the authorities and the private sector in the future, and are essential in planned future development and operation of the ports.”