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Wharf Rat's Diary - Freight & Trading Weekly - 18 February 2000 edition -
- Freight & Trading Weekly
18 February 2000 edition
Wharf Rat's Diary |
The announcement in the Star concerning the closure of certain gentlemen's clubs in Jhb will come as a disappointment to some members of the industry, although how they can spend money (or, more often, other people's money) on entering these "JVs" beats me. Maybe they suffer a collapsed stow in the home port, or require a tackle certificate for over-age equipment, or possess an extremely ugly wife; either way it's never a good idea to effect a lower hold discharge without first obtaining an inspection report. Personally, I felt the only advantage of these establishments was the opportunity to eat and drink oneself into a stupor over 14 hours for a very reasonable fixed price, but now even that attraction is denied me. Doubtless the major players can develop a spirit of denial, give it all up for Lent and donate the savings to a worthy cause, but maybe the small shipper (geddit?) will experience withdrawal symptoms... Again we hear this week of quite a few changes and moves; Helen Martens has parted company with Diamond Shipping and Navifreight, and has joined my old friends Seaclad maritime to market their W African agencies for Torm Lines and PAL. I privately had my doubts about the advisability of her leaving Polaris and the future of Navifreight, but she's an old trouper and Seaclad will only benefit from her experience. Deepak Parbhoo leaves Maersk Jhb for their Cape Town office in the wake of his girlfriend's transfer there with Safmarine. Deepak was my rep whilst he was at Saf and also Maersk, and was an asset to both companies; he will be a worthwhile addition to Peter Ehrenreich's team and I wish him well. Sad news for Doug Kennedy at Wilhelmsen in Jhb with the closure of his office; I haven't spoken to Doug for the best part of a year so I'm not sure what his plans are. Doug and Maria made a great team for Wilhelmsen as they did at Marimed before that, and I have no doubt they will surface somewhere soon... An article in FTW a couple of weeks ago caught my eye; a firm of consultants called Drewry Shipping have produced a report stating that, whilst worldwide container traffic in the 1996/8 period increased some 14% from 49 million TEUS to 56 million TEUS, revenue fell from $77.9 billion to $77 billion. They also add that, during this period, rates fell 14% but unfortunately don't giver any numbers to support this somewhat weird fact. I say 'weird' because the drop in revenue is about 1%; considering that freight has to be the biggest source of income for a line (although the Western Cape shippers might argue that land-side costs come a close second) I can't see how the numbers work. I might well be missing something but a 14% decline in freight rates surely would reflect, more or less, as a 14% decline in overall revenue. Accounting was never my strong point, and maybe the figures are wrong, but if not I'd be grateful if anyone out there can put me right. if indeed the data are kosher, it could be argued that reduced freight rates don't affect a line's profitability as much as they would have us believe... Diligent fans will have noticed a change to this column's format which occurred last week and seems now to be a permanent feature. Gone for good are the daily headings, to be replaced for some reason by paperclips. Before I get a chance to phone the editor and accuse her yet again of dictatorial interference, the Sainted one gets the boot in first. The type-setters have a problem formatting your article by weekdays, she says, because it takes a fair bit of time. So what? That's what they're paid for, I reply. Well, let me put it another way, she says; you're always so bloody late with your article, everyone's fed up having to rush at the last minute so we've made the change and you can like it or lump it. Suitably humbled, I whimper that I'll like it. Relenting somewhat, she also sweetly points out that the new arrangement allows me to submit only 4 epistles (or less) should the burden of dredging up halfway decent topics prove too great in any particular week. She has a point, especially when she adds that most shippers can't count up to 5 anyway... I trekked out to the Maritime Park last week for a cocktail party given by a line called CSAV, meaning Sud American de Vapores. I suppose it's wrong for me to accept an invitation to a function hosted by a carrier I've never heard of, let alone shipped with, but as the saying goes, I can resist everything except temptation. The heavy rain caused me to be late and a lot of others not to arrive at all, which was a pity as the agents Combine Ocean in the (large) form of local manager Andrew Wissler had put in a great deal of effort; the food was not only plentiful but excellent (unusually so for a shipping event) and the weather unfortunately spoilt an evening planned around the pool. Instead we spent the night inside, and mingling wasn't a problem for the dozen or so people present. Having said that, it was nice to see Tim Hastie from Rennies Dbn after so long and meet his principal Ross Fothergill from CSAV who is based somewhat inexplicable for a Chilean line, in Tokyo. The only down-side to an otherwise enjoyable night was Simon Avis winning the draw... Copyright Now Media (Pty) Ltd |
