Rethink over wharfage,
writes Alan Peat
WHEREFORE WHARFAGE?
It's now a regular phrase in the shipping industry's vocabulary - but a question that the port authorities have yet to answer.
The ad valorem wharfage charge has been a contentious issue for decades now, according to Philip de Haaff of Mitchell Cotts and chairman of ASABOSA (Association of Ship Operators and Brokers of SA).
Many years ago, he said, I asked the naive question of where wharfage was going. At that time, referring to the fact that it certainly wasn't going into port maintenance and repair.
What we're facing now is a legacy of those days.
In other words the ports still require maintenance/ repair, but where's the funding to come from when ad valorem wharfage finally disappears?
The only hint was in government-level discussion of the Portnet rates restructuring programme which was road-showed around the country last year.
The suggestion was that the tariffs should be commercially-rated against the services used by each customer. That you should get what you pay for, and pay for what you get.
The whisper about wharfage was that a temporary, dedicated maintenance/repair levy might be imposed, or that it would be included in the rates.
But the whisper - and, for that matter, the rate restructuring - has faded into the background.
The loudly announced April 1 launch-date is no more, according to Brett Gray, m.d. of SATI (SA Transport Investments).
When queried about wharfage - and where it would fit into the new rates structure - Gray said: The only thing we've been advised is that April 1 imposition date for the new tariff increases is not going ahead.
Just the annual increases as normal.
De Haaff agreed, adding that a rethink appeared to be taking place. But what and why he could not say.
It's not a bad thing, said Gray, as long as it doesn't drag on too long, and hold up privatisation.
You obviously need the rates sorted out before you privatise - otherwise it's a mess.
Two to three months is OK, according to Gray. But, if it is delayed for a long period - that's not a good sign.
And, if tariff reform is being delayed, he added, then the wharfage issue might be part of it.
But I've not heard any definite words, Gray told FTW, and I wouldn't want to speculate.
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