TPT will respond to Regulator’s ‘most expensive port’ claims

Transnet Port Terminals
(TPT) will respond to claims
that Durban is one of the
most expensive ports in the
world, but not before they
have studied the document
in which this was reported
in depth.
TPT acting chief executive
Karl Socikwa told FTW
they were in possession of
the Port Regulator’s “Port
Benchmarking and Indicators
Research”, an in-depth
study of all the Transnet
National Ports Authority
(TNPA) costs at the SA port
network that found total
costs at Durban Port to be a
whopping 879% above the
lowest costing of the 12 ports
in the report.
“We are aware of what
has been said about Durban
being expensive and we
will respond to the concerns
– but only after we have
gone through the report and
deliberated with the various
stakeholders,” Socikwa
said. “I don’t want to preempt
anything by making
comments about this.”
He said it was important
for Transnet to take note of
the Regulator’s report as it
was important to benchmark
tariffs against those of
international ports. “And
we do that. We must be in a
position where we can defend
or justify the tariffs we
charge. We are taking note of
this very important matter.”
Socikwa said it was
important to note though
that South Africa’s port
tariff structure was more
complicated. “One must
remember that the TNPA
has its own set of costings
– both published and
unpublished. The published
tariffs are determined
annually with the Regulator
while the non-published
tariffs like rent for instance
are internal. Then there
are our costings that are
completely separate as we
are then responsible for
handling charges. It is quite
a complicated system.”