The Freight Community’s Weekly Newspaper for Import / Export decision makers – on subscription FRIDAY 9 October 2009 NO. 1883 FREIGHT & TRADING WEEKLY Import and Export Consolidations by Sea and Air Jnb: Tel: (011) 929 4900 Fax: (011) 397 4221 e-Mail: [email protected]Dur: Tel: (031) 584 6381 Fax: (031) 584 6380 e-Mail: [email protected]www.hartrodt.com Cpt: Tel: (021) 380 5860 Fax: (021) 386 2498 e-Mail: [email protected]Plz: Tel: (041) 581 0696 Fax: (041) 581 0715 e-Mail: [email protected]FTW1150 USA TRANSPORT IS OUR BUSINESS FTW4553 Your fastest route to Africa ... South Africa - Angola (SAWA) South Africa - West Africa (SAWX) South Africa - Far East (SWAX) East Coast South America - West Africa Europe - West Africa Johannesburg: +27 11 325 0557 Durban: +27 31 306 4500 Cape Town: +27 21 425 3600 Visit us online niledutch.com Freight industry kicks off Transport Month in style FTW’s Jodi Haigh was one of the speakers at last week’s Transport Forum conference in celebration of Transport Month. Haigh focused on the value of specialist media in promoting products and services to a targeted customer base. One of the central themes of the day’s presentations was the need to reduce logistics costs in South Africa. See full story on page 11. New reefer service on SA-Europe route BY Ray Smuts The irrepressible Ian Wicks is back in the shipping saddle, soon to launch a new weekly reefer service between South Africa and Europe. Deploying seven chartered vessels, the service is to be run by MBG Shipping, the trading arm of African Feeder Lines, a shelf company registered ten years ago by Wicks and long-time friend, Carl van der Westhuizen. The new venture is to be officially launched at a sushi affair on November 11, the first sailing from Cape Town on Wednesday, December 2. Port rotation for the fledgling service has been finalised, initially calling Cape Town, Tilbury, Rotterdam, Dakar and Cape Town, though Durban, Port Elizabeth and a third Cape Town call are to be incorporated at a later stage for what will then be a 49-day round trip. Wicks told FTW he and Van Der Westhuizen had started thinking about this undertaking last October. A business plan was completed in July and approved by the FNB credit board. Wicks has often told this correspondent that were he to start a new shipping line, an investor would have to come up with US$70 million, but neither he nor Van Der Westhuizen is saying how much is at stake with the new offering. “It’s a very serious business this and the capital at our disposal is enough to make it happen, so shippers need have no concern,” says Van Der Westhuizen, a fruit industry veteran. He adds: “The major shipping lines have been dominating the South Africa-Europe trade for a long time so our thrust is to get our story direct to the originator of the freight, that is the fruit grower, because the carton (product) basically pays for everything. “Grower costs have steeply risen this past year, perhaps 30% or more, so many of the smaller farmers are effectively farming for nothing, which explains why everybody is really looking at cutting costs in the supply chain.” Van Der Westhuizen, who runs his own fruit business on a trade route other than South Africa- Europe, says sufficient reefer capacity out of South Africa has been a problem for years. “It’s the same scenario every year, a battle to get equipment (containers) and space and I personally have been bumped off ships, from time to time, every season.” So what is going to set MBG apart from the To page 12 Jodi Haigh ... targeted marketing.
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The Freight Community’s Weekly Newspaper for Import / Export decision makers – on subscriptionFRIDAY 9 October 2009 NO. 1883
Freight industry kicks off Transport Month in styleFTW’s Jodi Haigh was one of the speakers at last week’s Transport Forum conference in celebration of Transport Month. Haigh focused on the value of specialist media in promoting products
and services to a targeted customer base.
One of the central themes of the day’s presentations was the need to reduce logistics costs in South Africa.
See full story on page 11.
New reefer service on SA-Europe routeBy Ray Smuts
The irrepressible Ian Wicks is back in the shipping saddle, soon to launch a new weekly reefer service between South Africa and Europe.
Deploying seven chartered vessels, the service is to be run by MBG Shipping, the trading arm of African Feeder Lines, a shelf company registered ten years ago by Wicks and long-time friend, Carl van der Westhuizen.
The new venture is to be officially launched at a sushi affair on November 11, the first sailing from Cape Town on Wednesday, December 2.
Port rotation for the fledgling service has been finalised, initially calling Cape Town, Tilbury, Rotterdam, Dakar and Cape Town, though Durban, Port Elizabeth and a third Cape Town call are to be incorporated at
a later stage for what will then be a 49-day round trip.
Wicks told FTW he and Van Der Westhuizen had started thinking about this undertaking last October. A business plan was completed in July and approved by the FNB credit board.
Wicks has often told this correspondent that were he to start a new shipping line, an investor would have to come up with US$70 million, but neither he nor Van Der Westhuizen is saying how much is at stake with the new offering.
“It’s a very serious business this and the capital at our disposal is enough to make it happen, so shippers need have no concern,” says Van Der Westhuizen, a fruit industry veteran.
He adds: “The major shipping lines have been dominating the South Africa-Europe trade for a long time so our thrust
is to get our story direct to the originator of the freight, that is the fruit grower, because the carton (product) basically pays for everything.
“Grower costs have steeply risen this past year, perhaps 30% or more, so many of the smaller farmers are effectively farming for nothing, which explains why everybody is really looking at cutting costs in the supply chain.”
Van Der Westhuizen, who runs his own fruit business on a trade route other than South Africa-Europe, says sufficient reefer capacity out of South Africa has been a problem for years.
“It’s the same scenario every year, a battle to get equipment (containers) and space and I personally have been bumped off ships, from time to time, every season.”
So what is going to set MBG apart from the
To page 12
Jodi Haigh ... targeted marketing.
FREIGHT & TRADING WEEKLY DUTY CALLS
Editor Joy OrlekConsulting Editor Alan PeatContributors Liesl VenterAdvertising Carmel Levinrad (Manager)
Yolande Langenhoven Jodi Haigh
Managing Editor David Marsh
CorrespondentsDurban Terry Hutson
Tel: (031) 466 1683Cape Town Ray Smuts
Tel: (021) 434 1636 Carrie Curzon Tel: 072 674 9410Port Elizabeth Ed Richardson
Itac RoadshowIn an earlier column we mentioned an invitation extended by Itac to attend its roadshow on 30 September.
The event dealt with its three core functions namely:(i) Tariff Investigations; (ii) Trade Remedy Investigations; and (iii) Import and Export Control.
If you are interested in obtaining copies of the roadshow presentations, just send us an email.
Customs Valuation – Amended LegislationIn an earlier column we advised of the promulgation of two Acts dated 08 January 2009. However, the sections in respect of Value pertaining to Chapter IX of the Customs and Excise Act (Act) contained in one of the Acts, the Revenue Laws Amendment Act 2008, were not promulgated. At the time it was stated that these sections would be promulgated at
a later stage. It was later understood to be 01 October 2009.
On 30 September 2009 amendments to the Act were published in respect of Section 65 – “Value for Customs Duty Purposes”, Section 66 – “Transaction Value”, and Section 67 – “Adjustments to Price Actually Paid or Payable”.
Have you taken into account these amendments? Due to their importance we will provide an explanation in future columns.
Request For Quotations – Itac TrainingThe International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (Itac) has published a “Request for Quotations Customised Training Programme for Import and Export Control”, for which the closing date for proposals is 10 October 2009 at 11:00.
According to Itac, out of
a total of 6618 product tariff lines there are only 276 subject to import control and 177 under export control.
2nd Correction Notice Trade Remedy – GlassFollowing the publication of the first correction notice on 04 September 2009 titled “Correction Notice of the Initiation of a Sunset Review of the anti-dumping duties on clear drawn and float glass originating in or imported from the People's Republic of China and India” to replace an earlier notice published on 21 August 2009, a second correction notice in respect of this investigation was published on 25 September 2009.
It is simply titled “Correction Notice of the Initiation of a Sunset Review of the anti-dumping duties on clear drawn and float glass originating in or imported from the People's Republic of China (PRC) and India”.
It is interesting to note that the latest correction notice does not affect the comment date, which according to the notice remains 11 October 2009.
Applications – Comment DueOur weekly reminder of the applications on which responses are still due. • Plugs and sockets for the manufacture of insulated electric cables fitted with connectors. Response due by 16 October 2009. • Clear drawn and float glass originating in or imported from the People's Republic of China (China) and India – a correction notice was published. Response due by 11 October 2009.
Note: This is a non- comprehensive statement of the law. No liability can be accepted for errors and omissions.
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DCT work stoppage angers truckersBy Alan Peat
The Durban container truckers were up in arms last week as a four-and-a-half hour strike – euphemistically termed an “unplanned work stoppage” by Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) – paralysed the Durban container terminal (DCT) once again.
With the peak season in the offing, the road hauliers are adamant that such unexpected stoppages bode ill for when the pre-Christmas rush really gets
under way, and feel that TPT management is just not keeping on top of labour issues, according to Malcolm Sodalay, MD of Sammar Investments and chairman of the Durban harbour carriers’ section of the SA Association of Freight Forwarders (Saaff) in KwaZulu Natal.
Despite many TPT “roadshows” over the past three months – when the DCT was shut for one hour in each shift as workers and management conferred on labour matters – sudden
unexplained work stoppages like last Thursday’s are still happening, he told FTW.
In a communication with TPT management he suggested that: “This leads one to believe that said roadshows did not have the desired impact.” When management fails to amicably attend to issues which are close to the heart of employees, that will
ultimately result in a strike. “It is our opinion that
employees only strike when their concerns do not receive the necessary attention – and thus industry as a whole suffers the consequence of this action.”
Despite contact with both the main transport union, the SA Transport Workers’ Union (Satawu), and the communications section of
TPT in Durban, FTW has still not found an official reason behind the work stoppage.
The Durban truckers, however, were told by DCT workers that it related to management demands for a “clock-in, clock-out” system for workers, “which they feel restricts their freedom of movement” according to a road haulier.
Agency link-up creates new groupage service on Gauteng-Botswana routeBy James Hall
This month sees the launch of a new joint venture groupage service on the Gauteng-Botswana route following a link-up between Express Cargo and Pelican Moving Company.
A Swaziland company with an office in Johannesburg to handle goods bound for Botswana from Gauteng, Express Cargo will have
Pelican as its on-the-ground agent to serve all areas of that country.
“Botswana is a very large place. We can now deliver to any spot, no matter how remote. It is a great service, but to do it we had to rethink what we were doing in Botswana,” said Mark Svenningsen, managing director of Express Cargo.
Feeling that standards were
not up to snuff on its Jo’burg to Botswana route, the firm scrutinised operations with an eye on improving service delivery. The foremost need was for a local partner with a countrywide delivery network already in place.
“We did an analysis of service providers, and we learned that Pelican specialises in the movement of household personal effects throughout
Botswana. When you handle personal effects it’s very much a customer service matter, very personal. It’s not like delivering 30 tonnes of cement,” said Svenningsen.
Pelican does not do overborder work, so there was no conflict with Express Cargo, but the company does have extensive contacts for local distribution.
“Hotel chains, supermarket
chains, they deliver to them all, in every little town. This has given them an excellent delivery infrastructure in Botswana. We piggyback on that, so for consolidations from South Africa we now have access to their delivery infrastructure because our partners have offices in Gaborone, Francistown, Kasane and Selebe Phikwe,” Svenningsen said.
Durban Container Terminal paralysed for four and a half hours.
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‘Seafreight price war must end!’Major lines lost an estimated US$6-billion in the first six months of this year
By Alan Peat
There is a desperate need for SA shippers to realise the calamity the shipping lines are currently facing, according to a line executive who wished to remain anonymous.
“The market needs to accept that the price-war in seafreight rates is just going to have to stop,” he told FTW, “as carriers are facing an unsustainable situation. And, if something isn’t done, a number of them are going to go bust.”
This same thinking was loudly expressed at the recent Marine Money Asia conference in Singapore.
More vessels are expected to go into lay-up, said industry specialists, and it is imperative for the liner industry to abandon the price war.
Journalist Vincent Wee of the Straits Business Times wrote that the demand and supply imbalance in the global container shipping fleet was
so severe that at least another 5% of ships needed to be laid up in the next six months before equilibrium is achieved.
Monika Krogulska, Asian representative of shipping industry consultancy Marsoft, told the conference: “It is likely that more liner vessels and charter vessels are going to find their way into lay-up in the second half of this year.”
Current lay-ups have taken off about 10% of capacity, scrapping of vessels another 1.5%, slow steaming has been reducing capacity by around 2% and slippage in deliveries another 4%. But with freight rates having dropped a third year-on-year and fleet utilisation standing at barely over 70%, even more capacity needs to be taken out of the system, she said.
The situation is dire, according to the Paris-based shipping consultancy, AXS-Alphaliner, whose figures show that the major lines lost an estimated US$6-billion in
the first six months of this year alone. Krogulska added that revenue would have to rise by 20% on average for them to break-even.
She said the only solution for now was to keep capacity under control, and hope that rate hikes – as seen in the Asia-Europe route – manage to hold.
The same applies in SA, according to our
shipping source.“The market just needs to
realise that lines on the SA trade, like any other, can’t afford to just go on offering rates at below cost levels,” he said.
“The sunny times for shippers of cut-throat pricing just have to go, and they’ll have to accept that lines are going to need to push up rates if they are going to survive.”
Shipper lambastes ‘inefficient TPT fat-cats’One of the most outspoken voices on the Cape Town shipping scene has strongly criticised Transnet Port Terminals’ (TPT) top management for the ongoing failure to cope with increasingly poor management performance at the deep sea container terminal in Cape Town.
Peter Newton, an exporter of containerised fresh produce and a member, amongst other bodies, of the Cape Town Port Liaison Forum: “In the absence of privatisation it’s abundantly clear that the entire obscenely overpaid echelon of top management will have to be taken out.
“Whether a new crop of competent professionals is really necessary is a moot point – because fixing the problem is not rocket-science. There are
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plenty of able, willing, experienced and competent people (most of them unfortunately ‘suppressed’) in the ranks who could provide most of the operational management skills at a fraction of the cost of the current fat-cat regime.”
Although both the private sector bodies meet monthly with the business unit executive of TPT’s Cape Town Container Terminal (CTCT), Newton believes this interaction achieves only limited results.
“TPT, instead of looking in the mirror for the source of their problems and consequent port users’ woes, spends an enormous amount of time and effort pointing fingers at others, notably the shipping lines, while at the same time always being careful to keep the lines away from other port users as far as possible,” he told FTW.
The current whipping boy, he reckoned, is the recently introduced Navis system.
“However Navis is not new – and not even new to SA,” he said. “It’s been in place at New Pier 1
(Durban) for the past year or so, and latterly Port Elizabeth. And although colleagues from both ports were on hand to assist, as were Navis personnel from Oakland, US and the UK, CTCT still managed to make a hash of things despite their data capturers being fast, efficient and backed up!
“So we are back to management.”Claims that shipping line
inputs are a major source of the now month-long problems are unconvincing, in Newton’s view.
“If the correct info was not in the TPT computer, boxes would not be able to be discharged,” he said.
“In fairness, in TPT’s confusion, the shipping line input shortcomings to which they refer are probably in respect of releases of import boxes – again the generalisation is merely a smokescreen.”
The answer? “Appoint competent people (of
whom there are many within TPT ranks) instead of obscenely overpaid incompetents and the situation should improve immeasurably,” Newton said.
8 | FRIDAY October 9 2009
Entries open for local award
By Liesl Venter
There is no better way of teaching young freight forwarders the ropes than by encouraging and supporting their entry into the South African Association of Freight Forwarders’ (Saaff) Young Freight Forwarder of the
Year award.With entries having just
opened for this prestigious award, young people under the age of 30 who have been working full-time in the forwarding industry for at least four years and whose employers are members of Saaff, are being called on to enter.
According to Margy Pedder of Saaff, the aim of the award, which is a precursor to the Fiata “Young International Freight Forwarder of the Year Award”, is to encourage skills development within the South African forwarding and clearing industry.
With Saaff providing a topic, the candidates write a dissertation of between 2500 and 4000 words. The South African winner goes on to take part in the Fiata Young International Freight Forwarder Award, with the possibility of travelling overseas to attend the annual Fiata conference as a
regional quarter finalist.This year’s winner,
Natasha Persad, describes the competition as a remarkable experience. “The dissertation was one of the most significant academic challenges, but it broadened my knowledge on so many aspects of freight forwarding.”
Young freight forwarders – step forward!
By Alan Peat
The rapidly growing Chinese interest in Africa is now reflected in China-SA trade, as the oriental giant takes over as number one trading partner – beating the US, Japan, Germany and the UK in the battle for SA trade supremacy.
Department of trade & industry figures show that two-way trade volumes with China hit R32.4-billion in the January-to-July period – sliding comfortably ahead of the US in second spot with R21.7-bn, Japan with R19.7-bn in third,, Germany fourth with R17.5-bn and the UK – for many years SA’s top partner – now sixth with R15.2-bn.
This was growth in SA-China trade of 11.95% from 8.45% in the same seven-month period last year.
It’s a local version of the same trade game that China is playing with the whole African continent –
with an especial focus on the sub-Saharan section of the continent – where cheap Chinese products are substituting for African imports from other sources, and replacing even second-hand goods which have previously been price-dominant in certain sectors, like the motor vehicle market.
It still remains a very lop-sided trade pattern, according to Duncan Bonnett of trade consultancy, Liz Whitehouse & Associates.
“The only thing that sub-Saharan Africa exports to China in any quantity are minerals and mineral derivatives,” he told FTW, “because almost everything we produce they are manufacturing – better and cheaper.”
This was clearly indicated by trade statistics which show that Africa’s top exports to China last year were mineral products.
Imports, however, are predominantly manufactured goods. “That’s right across-the-board,” Bonnett added – with the top export products from China into Africa in the past year being machinery, transport equipment, footwear and plastic products.
In the African trade league, Angola leads the table. It accounts for 24% of China-Africa trade, mainly because it is the biggest African source of China’s oil imports.
SA takes second spot, with 17% of the total inter-continental trade, then Sudan (8%), Nigeria (7%) and Egypt
(6%) – and these countries collectively account for 62% of total China- Africa trade.
On the positive side, according to Bonnett, China – as a source of affordable goods – is creating consumers in lots of market sectors where they were previously excluded because of price.
“What China is doing, in many respects, is creating new market opportunities throughout the continent,” he said. “With cheap TVs, radios, cars, cookers and fridges, there are consumers where they previously didn’t exist before cheap Chinese
goods became available in the marketplaces. They just couldn’t afford these things before.”
He also added that this was another positive factor. “They are creating a retail revolution across the continent.”
But there is also a downside. According to Bonnett, they are destroying African industry. “It just doesn’t have the economies-of-scale, the cheap and regular supplies of power and water, nor the skills that are required,” he said. “They just can’t compete with the Chinese.”
China slides into top trading spot‘Creating a retail revolution across the continent’ SA’S Trading ParTners (r bn) Jan - July 2009 - Two way Trade
China US Japan Germany UK
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this is the first of a regular column to be provided by Itac.
Send your questions to [email protected], we will forward them to Itac and focus on the most relevant issues.
By way of introduction, the aim of Itac is to foster economic growth and development by establishing an efficient and effective system for the administration of international trade.
The core functions are: customs tariff investigations; trade remedies; and import and export control.
Tariff InvestigationsItac conducts tariff
investigations to support production and job creation, that is, it receives applications for increases in tariff protection, or for reductions and rebates in duties to lower input costs. It does so either upon application by a specific industry, or sometimes proactively and in line with the National Industrial Policy Framework.
The investigations are conducted on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the specific economic, financial, and competitive circumstances within a sector, industry, and the full value chain of upstream and downstream activities within this sector. The objective is to sustain the industrial base, increase investment and employment, improve competitiveness, and generally move manufacturing
up the value chain.
Trade Remedies The Trade Remedies Unit is responsible for conducting investigations of anti-dumping protection, countervailing duties to counteract subsidisation in foreign countries, and safeguard measures when an unforeseen surge in imports is threatening to overwhelm a domestic producer, in accordance with domestic law and regulations, and consistent with WTO rules.
The most commonly used instruments that domestic manufacturers can use against unfair trade are anti-dumping (against dumped imports), and countervailing measures (against subsidised imports). Safeguards are temporary measures that are put in place to allow the domestic industry
to adjust and improve its level of competitiveness.
In the context of international trade, dumping is defined as a situation where imported goods are being sold at prices lower than in the country of origin, and also causing material injury to domestic producers of such goods.
To remedy such unfair pricing, ITAC may recommend the imposition of additional duties on imports, duties that are equivalent to the dumping margin (or to the margin of injury, if this margin is lower).
Import and Export Control Import and export control measures generally are applied to enforce health, environmental, safety, and technical standards that arise
from domestic laws and international agreements, such as the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer and the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal.
For more information, visit the website at www.itac.org.za.
siyabulela tsengiwe, itac chief commissioner.
What’s Itac all about?
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For the recordThe picture we used last week to accompany the article on Beitbridge was not the bridge over the Limpopo
but rather the “other” Beit Bridge, also paid for by the Beit Trust, but over the Zambesi at Chirundu.
Thanks to Brian Kalshoven of Beitbridge Border Clearing Agency for pointing out the slip.
Adoption of single currency on the agenda again In a meeting currently being held in Kinshasa, ministers of trade and leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) are deliberating on the adoption of a single
currency to be used for trading by member states.
Eskom plan ‘an environmental catastrophe’The Democratic Alliance has warned of a potential environmental catastrophe involving Eskom’s proposed
Medupi power plant.
Logistics major adds support to e-commerce initiativeLogistics major Kuehne + Nagel has added its support to the e-commerce platform INTTRA on its eInvoice implementation.
Demand up – but industry not out of the woodsFreight demand may be up but the industry is not out of the woods yet. This is according to the International Air Transport Association (Iata), which yesterday released its international
scheduled traffic results for August. Forwarder opens Zimbabwe officeThe forwarding company Damco, a member of the AP Moller-Maersk Group, is to open a new office in Harare, Zimbabwe, in October.
LAsT WEEk’s top stories on www.cargoinfo.co.za
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By Liesl Venter
The road versus rail fight in South Africa has finally come to an end with all role-players not only realising that the high cost of transport needs be addressed, but actively engaging in discussion to reach this goal.
Speaking at last week’s Transport Forum in celebration of Transport Month, Gavin Kelly, technical and operations manager of the Road Freight Association (RFA), said the vicious turf battle was over and in its place there was agreement about the need to understand how the different modes can work together. “There is no doubt they have to work
together,” he told the well-attended meeting.
“We are not in competition with road freight,” said Tony Muizenheimer of Transnet. “We are talking to them
to ensure that specific commodities suited for rail go back to rail.”
Kelly agreed, saying that some things needed to be on rail and others on road. “And that is a good thing and how it should be. We are not saying we want to keep all freight on road. Yes, rail is far
cheaper than road in many instances, but trucks can go to places where rail can’t. The two need to work in conjunction with each other.”
Delegates and speakers agreed it would take time to achieve these goals.
But, said Dr Jan Havenga of the University of Stellenbosch, who has done much research into the cost of moving freight, the role-players have turned a corner.
“We are finally at a place where the two competing entities are no longer at each other’s throats, but have come together to talk. It is time to be mature and work together. It is not road versus rail, but road and rail moving South Africa.”
‘Road versus rail turf battle is over’all agree it’s about reducing the cost of logistics in Sa
‘the two competing entities are no longer at each other’s throats.’
Ngqura’s historic moment arrivesIt was history in the making on Sunday when the 300 metre long, 13 metre deep MSC Catania sailed into the port of Ngqura container terminal to become its first commercial vessel.
The docking of the vessel – while a major milestone for the port and the country – was used as a real live
test-run for vessel operators to hone their skills in this first commercial container offloading at the Port of Ngqura.
Part of MSC’s Europe service, the vessel was en route from Durban where adverse weather conditions during the week had delayed its expected arrival.
Two gangs of operators – with a third on standby – successfully put months of training to the test in handling and offloading the vessel using the port’s state-of-the-art Liebherr ship-to-shore cranes. The vessel sailed to Cape Town and onward to Europe after her Ngqura call.
New reefer service
formidable opposition? “More focused and more
personalised service, each client considered a partner rather than a number because without them we would not be on the water,” they say.
Aside from one unidentified minority stakeholder, Wicks and Van Der Westhuizen are the major partners, handling operations and marketing respectively, but shares will be allocated to BEE players who are able to offer “the most value” to the company.
Even though South Africa finds itself in recession for the first time in 17 years, Van Der Westhuizen says: “Ironically, this difficult economic time has created a very unique opportunity for this venture.”
Adds Wicks: “The current climate needs stronger maritime growth to stimulate our economy.”
Wicks, currently locked in negotiations with European vessel owners,
points to favourable current rates of around US$4 000 a day, as opposed to US$17 000 a year ago.
The chartered MBG seven will offer modern ships with high reefer capacity; 300-plus plug points per vessel; and the ability to carry dry cargo.
Wicks and Van Der Westhuizen say the intention is not to compete with the bigger players but they believe MBG could conceivably capture 10% of the export market.
The brainchild of Wicks, seven years in the making, SA Independent Liner Services (Sails) was founded in 2004, largely funded by mining conglomerate and subsequent majority stakeholder, Lonrho, but the enterprise was not to be.
“I have learnt a huge amount from the demise of Sails.”
The company was liquidated toward the end of last year, a process still being finalised.
From page 1
MSC Catania becomes the first vessel to berth at Ngqura.
Access becomes first potential tenant at DubeThe new King Shaka International Airport must be seen as an investment in the future of the province of KwaZulu Natal, according to Garth Louden, director of Access Freight International – one of the first takers of space at the Dube Tradeport airfreight
logistics building at the airport.
“It is a logical step for Access,” he told FTW at a breakfast function hosted by his company recently, and intended to update the market on this air cargo development. “We already have facilities at every
other port and airport in SA.”
Louden was very forthright in his praise for the R8-billion development.
“This airport is going to make Durban a global city,” he said. “We see it as a tremendous catalyst for KwaZulu Natal.”
COMPILED AND PRINTED IN ONE DAY
05Updated until 11am October 2009
Updated daily on Cargo Info Africa – www.cargoinfo.co.za
INBOUND BY DATE - Dates for sailing: 12/10/2009 - 26/10/2009
Inbound
Ada S 0001 CSV - - - - 25-Oct -
Alexandra Rickmers 933w CSC/HLC/MBA/SMU - - - - 21-Oct -
Freight and Trading Weekly, Friday 09 October 2009
Easyfinder Guide to Agents
Abbreviations of Lines and AgentsASI Asiatic (Hull Blyth)ASL Angola South Line (Meihuizen International/Seascape cc)BEL Beluga Shipping (Mainport Africa Shipping)CHL Consortium Hispania Lines (Seaclad Maritime)CMA CMA-CGM (Shipping Agencies)CMZ Compagnie Maritime Zairose (Safmarine)CSA Canada States Africa Line (Mitt Cotts)CSC China Shipping Container Lines (Seaclad Maritime)CSV CSAV (CSAV Group Agencies SA)COS Cosren (Cosren)DAL Deutsche Afrika Linien(DAL Agency)DEL Delmas Line (John T Rennie)DML Debala Mozambique Line (Mainport Africa Shipping)DSA Delmas ASAF (Century)ESA Evergreen Agency (SA) (Pty) LtdESL Ethiopian Shipping Lines (Diamond Shipping)FAY Faymon Shipping (Sea-act Shipping cc)GAL Gulf Africa Lines (King and Sons)GCL Global Container Lines (Freightmarine)GRB GearbulkGSL Gold Star Line (Polaris Shipping)HLC Hapag – LloydHMM Eukor (Diamond Shipping)HSD Hamburg Sud South AfricaHSL H Stinnes Linien (Diamond Shipping)
HOEGH Hoegh Autoliners (ISS Voigt)INM Intermarine (Mainport Africa Shipping)IRISL Islamic Repubic of Iran Shipping Lines (King & Sons)IVS Island View ShippingKEE Keeley Granite (Tern Shipping)KLI K.Line (Freightmarine)LAU NYK Cool Southern AfricaLMC Ignazio Messina (Ignazio Messina)LNL Laurel Navigation Line (Polaris Shipping)MAC Macs (King & Sons)MAL Mainport Africa Container Line (Mainport Africa Shipping)MAR Marimed (Marimed Ship.)MAS Mascot Line (Marimed)MBA Maruba (Alpha Shipping)MAS Mascot Line (Marimed Shipping)MAU Mauritius Shipping Corporation (Alpha Shipping)MISC MISC Line (Bridge Marine)MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC)MSK Maersk LineMOL Mitsui Osk Lines (Mitsui Osk Lines)MOZ Mozline (King & Sons)MOZ MOZIF (LBF)MUR MUR ShippingNDS Nile Dutch Africa Line B.V. (Nile Dutch South Africa)NVQ Navique (Tall Ships)
NYK (Mitchell Cotts – NYK Agency)OAC Ocean Africa Container Line (Ocean Africa)PHO (Phoenix Shipping)PIL Pacific International Line - (Foreshore Shipping)Pro ProLine (Bridge Marine)PRU Prudential Line (Alpha Shipping)Saf Safmarine (Safmarine)Sch Southern CharteringSCI Shipping Corp of India (Combine Ocean)SCO Sea Consortium (Bridge Shipping)SHL St Helena Line (RNC Shipping)SMU Samudera Shipping Line (African Marine Ships Agency)SSI Seacape Shipping Inc (Century Ships Agency)TOR Torm Line (Diamond Shipping)TSA Transatlantic (Mitchell Cotts)UAFL United Africa Feeder Line (Seaclad Maritime)UAL Universal Africa Lines (Seaclad Maritime)UASC United Arab Shipping Company (Seaclad Maritime)UNG Unigear (Gearbulk)WWL Wallenius Wilhelmsen (Barwil)Zim Zimstar (Zim Southern Africa)
* Notice any errors? Contact Peter Hemer on Cell: 084 654 5510/Fax (011) 704-3015
OUTBOUND BY DATE - Dates for sailing: 12/10/2009 - 26/10/2009
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