Ibsa transhipment proposal raises alarm among shippers

An idea proposed by the
Brazilian and Indian industry
associations at the tri-partite
summit recently held in New
Delhi, India, could have a
critical effect on the port
of Durban.
At the India-Brazil-SA
(Ibsa) summit, the two
associations – disturbed
at what they feel are poor
transport connections between
the three countries in the trade
alliance – called for an SA port
to be used as a transhipment
point to reduce the cost and the
time to ship goods between the
member countries. And they
named Durban as the
main possibility.
The Brazilian National
Confederation of Industry
(CNI) recommended to Ibsa
delegates that each country
designate at least one of its
ports as a hub for trade among
the three nations.
The three countries should
increase the efficiency of their
port terminals “to reduce the
time for loading and unloading
of ships and, consequently, the
total duration of trips”, their
report said.
It added: “The main intra-
Ibsa cargo transhipment
operations should be
concentrated in an SA port.
For this purpose, a cargo
storage structure should be set
up next to the port selected,
to concentrate the cargo to be
used by Brazilian and Indian
companies.”
It recommends Durban for
this purpose because the port
already handles 60% of
the country’s containerised
cargo movements.
CNI's Indian counterpart,
the Confederation of Indian
Industry (CII), made a
similar proposal.
But members of the Durban
seafreight industry are not too
happy at the idea of increasing
the transhipment boxes at the
port by a significant amount.
First of all because it
might suit the lines, and earn
Transnet Port Terminals (TPT)
a small sum (full handling
charges, but cut-price storage
fees) – but it earns the private
sector landside operators
nothing, and puts only a little
into the national economy.
But secondly, and most
importantly, the Ibsa
transhipment plan could throw
a spanner in the works of the
port’s container terminals.
“It would certainly be of
concern if it means that the
number of transhipments
increases dramatically,” said
Paul Rayner, MD of container
transporters, DTB Cartage.
The industry is already
expressing complaints
to the port management
about the current excess of
transhipments.
According to information
fed to FTW by another source,
the ideal balance of import,
export and transhipment
boxes at normal times is
33.3%/33.3%/33.3%. In
quiet times, the ratio of
transhipments can go up to
35%-38%, he told us.
But, on October 22,
for example, the ratio of
transhipments in the 14 644
boxes at the Durban container
terminal was 6 197 – 42.3%.
It all depends on what the
extra transhipments do to
the level of stack occupancy,
according to Rayner.
“The higher that is, the
slower the terminal goes,” he
said – pointing out the logic
that more boxes means more
machine moves to get to the
required boxes, means
more time.
“At about 70%-75%
occupancy you start to have
problems.”
Another executive in the
freight industry told FTW that
there was only one answer to
the problem. For Durban to
take the Ibsa transhipments
– but, if that threatens
congestion, to divert other
transhipments elsewhere.
“I can’t see Transnet
taking on too much,” he said,
“because, if they do, it would
jam up the port.
“The excess could be
hubbed through another
port along the coast, such as
Ngqura.”
That, he added, would also
satisfy the government’s desire
to have the new deep water
port – as a main southern
hemisphere container hub.
And it is believed that
has already been in Transnet
management’s mind – with
Durban, Richards Bay and
Ngqura all being looked at as
future hub ports.
However, this diversion
idea also met with screams
from at least one shipping
line executive, who told FTW
that it would probably mean
the lines having to make an
extra port call in SA – because
Durban is distinctly the
preferred port for the huge
volumes of traffic coming
from and going to the SA
industrial heartland
of Gauteng.
This adds a huge extra cost
for the lines, and, he added, for
transhipment boxes – which
comprise only a small fraction
of the total cargo on any ship.