SA port tariff still too high, say shippers

The South African Shippers Council said that despite the Ports Regulator of SA restricting the National Port Authority’s tariff hike to 4.49 percent in the 2011-12 financial year, it still regarded it as too high a charge for cargo dues, reported Business Day.


“We are disappointed by the percentage as we would have preferred a zero increase, but it is a win for all the people who have appealed against this astronomical tariff increase,’’ said Fanie Pretorius, chairman of the South African Shippers Council.


Council members are not impressed by the low productivity and poor infrastructure at SA’s port terminals, he said.


The Ports Regulator of SA last week rejected the authority’s application for a double-digit 11.91 percent tariff increase.
Tshediso Disenyana, senior manager for maritime industry development at the South African Maritime Safety Authority, also came out strongly against the tariff increase.


“There’s no justification for the tariff increase when you look at the service provision offered at these ports," Disenyana said.


He said the increase would affect consumers adversely as cargo owners will now shift the costs to goods and services coming through this channel.


Mboniso Sigonyela, spokesman for rail, freight and cargo utility Transnet, said the company was still studying the report from the ports regulator. “The company is disappointed as this will negatively impact our ability to maintain our debt service ratios,’’ he said.


A global study last year of 12 international port terminals found the Durban port, the busiest in Southern African, to be the most expensive. It charged container ships US$182,151 per docking vessel, which forced SA’s vessel owners to register their vessels elsewhere, Disenyana said.


The South African Maritime Authority is lobbying the Department of Transport and others on the high tariffs.
(Source:http://www.cargonewsasia.com)