Post by Gismo on Dec 19, 2009 19:03:29 GMT -5
Friday, 18 December 2009
Truck transports from KZN in chaos over container ban
National Transport Department ordered KZN to drop crackdown on high-cube containers
South Africa's national Dept of Transport has ordered the KwaZulu-Natal Transport Dept to drop its crackdown on high-cube containers, to release the estmated 250 impounded vehicles and start issuing “abnormal load permits” again.
The directive was reportedly issued after an urgent meeting between the national Department and the Road Freight Association (RFA). The KZN authority threatened to bring container movement out of the port of Durban to a shuddering halt. As reports emerged of fines being issued and vehicles being impounded, truckers refused to pick up high cube containers from the port.
While reports have surfaced that some transport companies were planning to obtain a high court interdict to prevent high-cube truckers from being fined and their vehicles impounded, the RFA said it was unaware of any such planned court action. According to the RFA, the national department denied issuing an instruction to any provincial department to impound vehicles carrying high-cube containers or to cease issuing abnormal load permits.
However, Cargo Info reports that while the KZN provincial authority is allowing truckers to move high cube containers within a 25 km radius of the port for unpacking, it will still impound any such vehicle travelling beyond that boundary. www.eyefortransport.com/content/sa%E2%80%99s-high-cube-truckers-get-reprieve
Kwa-Zulu province’s confiscation since Sept. 29 2009 of some 250 trucks transporting illegal 4,6-m high-cube containers where the law only allows 4,3-m, are beginning to have catastrophic results: up to 65% of all SA’s imported goods and perishable foods arrive in high-cube containers, writes Beeld journalist Elma Kloppers. The containers are stacking up at Durban harbour - at a levy-cost of R1,000 to R2,000 a day.
Kevin Martin, the vice-chairman of the harbour carriers division of the KwaZulu-Natal SA Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF), said earlier this month that it "constitutes a logistical and financial disaster of biblical proportions for South Africa" to suddenly have more than 50 percent of these containers standing because local road hauliers could not legally transport them.
The Durban container harbour – the largest in the southern hemisphere -- is backing up with high-cube containers including perishable foods; 250 trucks have thus far been confiscated; and at least one freighter was forced to reroute to Cape Town to offload its high-cube containers there: the Western Cape does not reinforce the SA law which bans these containers. This law was passed because the country does not have any low-bed trucks to transport them with, and the containers were posing a hazard to road bridges. ( also read: Container trucks pulled off SA roads over illegal 4,6m height )
In an earlier news report, Arlindo da Silva, the owner of Casa Italia furniture store in Pretoria, (tel 012 320 4340) said the company imported many goods from China in high-cube containers and four of its containers were now stuck in the Port_of_Durban. (email executive of Port of Durban at tau.morwe@transnet.net )
“The port in Durban is totally congested and no one can get their containers out. We're in the peak season and need the goods for the Christmas season, but our containers are retained and we have to pay excess duty," said Da Silva."
This week the alarm was raised at the SA president’s office by Gavin Kelly, spokesman of the Road Freight Association, RFA – who asked pres. Jacob Zuma and his transport minister to urgently intervene with a temporary moratorium over the holiday season so that all the barred containers could still reach Gauteng.
The KZN clampdown has had a dramatic effect on trucking companies, which now refuse to take any 4,6-m heigh containers. Yet between 55% and 65% of all the imported goods arrive in SA in the high-cube containers, said Kelly.
The problem in Durban started on 29 November when the KZN transportation department started clamping down on all the road-transports carrying the high 4,6-m containers – throwing up road-blocks, confiscating the containers and levelling fines ranging from R1,000 to R10,000 against the truckers, said Kelly. At least 250 trucks have already been confiscated, throwing the country’s trucking business into chaos, he said.
The problem with the 4,6m containers is that South Africa does not have any trucks which are low enough to transport them. At the moment, only KZN is applyng the law banning them from the roads; however, said Kelly, there’s no guarantee that this problem won’t spread to the rest of the provinces.’ www.sake24.com/articles/default/display_article.aspx?ArticleId=6-1607_2565596
Martin said 65 percent of every rand earned for South Africa was via sea trade and the container terminal in Durban was the largest in the southern hemisphere, accounting for more than 65 percent of all container traffic.
‘We tried to get legislation changed for five years…’
He said the SAAFF ‘had for more than five years been trying to get legislation changed to accommodate transportation of these containers by road within South Africa. These containers had been foisted onto the country by international trends towards phasing out the old conventional 12m container”, added Martin. He believed the 12m containers were no longer being manufactured anywhere in the world.
Containerization has revolutionized worldwide cargo shipping. Today, approximately 90% of non-bulk cargo worldwide moves by containers stacked on transport ships [9]; 26% of all containers originate from China. As of 2005, some 18 million total containers make over 200 million trips per year.
‘Legal truck-trailers ‘do not exist on South African roads”
-- Martin requested that a moratorium on the impounding of vehicles carrying these containers be reinstated "as a matter of urgency". Both associations claimed legal truck trailers "for all intents and purposes" did not exist on South African roads.
Container imports dropped 49% from last year:
The harbour can ill afford this latest problem: Durban’s container harbour is already importing 49% less than it did last year. The budgeted imports to the Durban car terminal for 2009/10 dropped by a massive 49% to 131,217 units, from 258,881 units in 2007/8.
And Durban car terminal business unit executive and automotive channel manager Bev Masson said that, during the past year, the volume of cars entering and leaving the Durban car terminal had declined by 20% to 30%, keeping capacity down to between 60% and 75%. The picture was expected to get worse before it improved, he added.
The terminal’s best performance was in 2006/7, when imports rose to 267,461 units and exports to 112,158 units. Despite this drop in business, the authorities have decided to go ahead with the planned R648-million expansion at the car terminal - ‘as its strategy was to create capacity ahead of demand and it wanted to be ready for the turnaround when it came” said Solly Letsoalo, the chief executive at semi-state Transport Net Terminals.
Truck transports from KZN in chaos over container ban
National Transport Department ordered KZN to drop crackdown on high-cube containers
South Africa's national Dept of Transport has ordered the KwaZulu-Natal Transport Dept to drop its crackdown on high-cube containers, to release the estmated 250 impounded vehicles and start issuing “abnormal load permits” again.
The directive was reportedly issued after an urgent meeting between the national Department and the Road Freight Association (RFA). The KZN authority threatened to bring container movement out of the port of Durban to a shuddering halt. As reports emerged of fines being issued and vehicles being impounded, truckers refused to pick up high cube containers from the port.
While reports have surfaced that some transport companies were planning to obtain a high court interdict to prevent high-cube truckers from being fined and their vehicles impounded, the RFA said it was unaware of any such planned court action. According to the RFA, the national department denied issuing an instruction to any provincial department to impound vehicles carrying high-cube containers or to cease issuing abnormal load permits.
However, Cargo Info reports that while the KZN provincial authority is allowing truckers to move high cube containers within a 25 km radius of the port for unpacking, it will still impound any such vehicle travelling beyond that boundary. www.eyefortransport.com/content/sa%E2%80%99s-high-cube-truckers-get-reprieve
Kwa-Zulu province’s confiscation since Sept. 29 2009 of some 250 trucks transporting illegal 4,6-m high-cube containers where the law only allows 4,3-m, are beginning to have catastrophic results: up to 65% of all SA’s imported goods and perishable foods arrive in high-cube containers, writes Beeld journalist Elma Kloppers. The containers are stacking up at Durban harbour - at a levy-cost of R1,000 to R2,000 a day.
Kevin Martin, the vice-chairman of the harbour carriers division of the KwaZulu-Natal SA Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF), said earlier this month that it "constitutes a logistical and financial disaster of biblical proportions for South Africa" to suddenly have more than 50 percent of these containers standing because local road hauliers could not legally transport them.
The Durban container harbour – the largest in the southern hemisphere -- is backing up with high-cube containers including perishable foods; 250 trucks have thus far been confiscated; and at least one freighter was forced to reroute to Cape Town to offload its high-cube containers there: the Western Cape does not reinforce the SA law which bans these containers. This law was passed because the country does not have any low-bed trucks to transport them with, and the containers were posing a hazard to road bridges. ( also read: Container trucks pulled off SA roads over illegal 4,6m height )
In an earlier news report, Arlindo da Silva, the owner of Casa Italia furniture store in Pretoria, (tel 012 320 4340) said the company imported many goods from China in high-cube containers and four of its containers were now stuck in the Port_of_Durban. (email executive of Port of Durban at tau.morwe@transnet.net )
“The port in Durban is totally congested and no one can get their containers out. We're in the peak season and need the goods for the Christmas season, but our containers are retained and we have to pay excess duty," said Da Silva."
This week the alarm was raised at the SA president’s office by Gavin Kelly, spokesman of the Road Freight Association, RFA – who asked pres. Jacob Zuma and his transport minister to urgently intervene with a temporary moratorium over the holiday season so that all the barred containers could still reach Gauteng.
The KZN clampdown has had a dramatic effect on trucking companies, which now refuse to take any 4,6-m heigh containers. Yet between 55% and 65% of all the imported goods arrive in SA in the high-cube containers, said Kelly.
The problem in Durban started on 29 November when the KZN transportation department started clamping down on all the road-transports carrying the high 4,6-m containers – throwing up road-blocks, confiscating the containers and levelling fines ranging from R1,000 to R10,000 against the truckers, said Kelly. At least 250 trucks have already been confiscated, throwing the country’s trucking business into chaos, he said.
The problem with the 4,6m containers is that South Africa does not have any trucks which are low enough to transport them. At the moment, only KZN is applyng the law banning them from the roads; however, said Kelly, there’s no guarantee that this problem won’t spread to the rest of the provinces.’ www.sake24.com/articles/default/display_article.aspx?ArticleId=6-1607_2565596
Martin said 65 percent of every rand earned for South Africa was via sea trade and the container terminal in Durban was the largest in the southern hemisphere, accounting for more than 65 percent of all container traffic.
‘We tried to get legislation changed for five years…’
He said the SAAFF ‘had for more than five years been trying to get legislation changed to accommodate transportation of these containers by road within South Africa. These containers had been foisted onto the country by international trends towards phasing out the old conventional 12m container”, added Martin. He believed the 12m containers were no longer being manufactured anywhere in the world.
Containerization has revolutionized worldwide cargo shipping. Today, approximately 90% of non-bulk cargo worldwide moves by containers stacked on transport ships [9]; 26% of all containers originate from China. As of 2005, some 18 million total containers make over 200 million trips per year.
‘Legal truck-trailers ‘do not exist on South African roads”
-- Martin requested that a moratorium on the impounding of vehicles carrying these containers be reinstated "as a matter of urgency". Both associations claimed legal truck trailers "for all intents and purposes" did not exist on South African roads.
Container imports dropped 49% from last year:
The harbour can ill afford this latest problem: Durban’s container harbour is already importing 49% less than it did last year. The budgeted imports to the Durban car terminal for 2009/10 dropped by a massive 49% to 131,217 units, from 258,881 units in 2007/8.
And Durban car terminal business unit executive and automotive channel manager Bev Masson said that, during the past year, the volume of cars entering and leaving the Durban car terminal had declined by 20% to 30%, keeping capacity down to between 60% and 75%. The picture was expected to get worse before it improved, he added.
The terminal’s best performance was in 2006/7, when imports rose to 267,461 units and exports to 112,158 units. Despite this drop in business, the authorities have decided to go ahead with the planned R648-million expansion at the car terminal - ‘as its strategy was to create capacity ahead of demand and it wanted to be ready for the turnaround when it came” said Solly Letsoalo, the chief executive at semi-state Transport Net Terminals.