Dialogue will continue
ACCORDING TO a statement released to FTW by the NPA's Siyabonga Gama, the authority has set aside R1,25-bn for infrastructure upgrading and developments in the coming year.
It will need a total of R5,9-bn for ongoing work during the next three years, he added.
But shippers still challenge the fact that, according to their estimates, this proposed outlay would leave well over a billion rand in the kitty, an amount that would be best used to reduce the tariffs for bulk exporters of low-value commodities, who are finding the new rates closing export doors on them (see page 1).
As to the savings for exporters, the NPA has calculated that - when it reduced the ad valorem percentages for calculating wharfage from last April 1 - its projected reduction of revenue during 2001/02 amounted to R250-million.
According to Gama, the anticipated reduction in cargo dues revenue for 2002/03 will be about R400-m.
But these savings, according to a number of analyses of the new tariff structure, will go mostly to high-value containerised cargo, leaving the exporters of bulk commodities out in the cold.
Gama conceded that some of the high-volume, low-value cargoes would have been affected detrimentally by the introduction of cargo dues. But he also indicated that this was necessary "to ensure that they paid for their fair share of port infrastructure".
However, Gama added, the NPA "has not turned a blind eye to this impact".
"Interaction with various importers and exporters confirmed that some form of differentiation must be retained between different commodities," he said, "based on their ability to absorb costs within the import/export market.
"This is more commonly referred to as what the cargo/market can bear."
Most cargoes paid less, Gama added.
There is an overall net reduction in port costs and over 90% of commodities will benefit from the scrapping of wharfage," he said.
"The tariffs are based on the principles of user pays, cost coverage and adequate return on capital invested."
But, he assured FTW, the NPA "remains committed to the process of continued interaction with port users during 2002".
This will take the form of "post-implementation dialogue to further refine the process", Gama said, with the first NPA workshop anticipated to take place during August.
