Cape Town - Following the Cape Argus report last week about costly delays at the Port of Cape Town, it has emerged that the SA Association of Ship Operators and Agents (SAASOA) have written to President Cyril Ramaphosa outlining the repercussions of delays on trade and industry at other ports around the country.
According to a confidential e-mail seen by the Cape Argus, “industrial strike action, weather challenges, absenteeism of workforce, gantries not in use, old equipment breaking down and not being kept to service standard have all resulted in port congestion and affected all vessels calling at South African Ports”. The letter to the president was followed by a meeting on August 8 between SAASOA members, including international shipping agencies and the Minister for Public Enterprises, Pravin Gordhan, with senior officials of Transnet, including Popo Molefe, the board chairperson, and Louis von Zeuner, a Transnet director.
During the meeting Gordhan emphasised that Transnet had been one of the state-owned companies that had been severely impacted by corruption and that they were working hard to fix and reconfigure the company.
Also at the meeting, chief executive officer of SAASOA Peter Besnard said that two years ago, starting in Cape Town, employees embarked on a go-slow that was overcome, but filtered into the Durban Container Terminal, as a result of an incentive bonus.
He said, “this too was calmed down, but poor productivity has continued to linger.
“The go-slow matter was again brought to the fore, this time at Ngqura Container Terminal in June/July this year, and had a detrimental effect on the economy in this region and South Africa as a whole.”
Von Zeuner, who chairs the Transnet board risk committee, said the committee had developed a plan of action for Transnet that included a serious focus on equipment, employees, ultimate customer satisfaction and finance/governance matters.
He said that to address the shortcomings, the board had appointed Richard Vallihu as the interim Transnet chief operating officer.
On Friday, Andrew Whitaker of Tony Sandell Roof Windows, one of the largest manufacturers of roof windows and skylights in South Africa, said firms may have to stop imports if things didn’t improve.
“The ship that loaded our purchases in Europe has been from Cape Town to PE to Durban back to PE and then back to Cape Town between July 22 to August 22 without offloading a thing.
“We suffered a substantial loss because of the delays and no doubt jobs shall also be lost.
“We were penalised R5000 per day, since July 26, Saturdays and Sundays included. How am I meant to run a business at a loss?”
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