FREIGHT & TRADING WEEKLY
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The Freight Community’s Weekly Newspaper for Import / Export decision makers – on subscription
FRIDAY 4 June 2010 NO. 1913
Fruit industry to demand compensation from Transnet By Ray Smuts South Africa’s R12 billiona-year fruit export sector has moved swiftly and decisively to normalise the impact of Transnet’s 17-day worker strike and is focused on ways of preventing an economic disaster of such magnitude occurring again. Only days before the SA Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) announced (May 27) that it had called off the strike, agriculture, forestry and fisheries minister, Tina Joemat-Petterson, had underscored government’s concerns at the intransigence
in resolving the issue. It’s anybody’s guess what this mess has cost the economy, with estimates of R7 billion bandied about. More than R1 billion can be attributed to agriculture, with fruit the major contributor. In addition, growers’ associations also face, and are contesting, emergency surcharges from container shipping lines for services disrupted due to the worker walk-out. Maersk Line has indicated it is levying a port congestion surcharge of US$150feu from May 19. To page 20
Pradeep Maharaj ... unsure whether contracts allow for reimbursement.
Transnet sends out strong post-strike media message By Ray Smuts In a near-full page newspaper advertisement addressed to “our customers, employees and all our important stakeholders” on Sunday, acting Transnet CEO Chris
Wells talks of an ‘elegant’ solution to the strike. “We have created an incentive to get striking workers to return to work without impacting on the base cost of wages,” says Wells.
“This elegant solution was signed by both Utatu and Satawu, our two recognised trade unions.” Wells assures the South African public and customers that “Transnet is now united and determined to deliver on
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our commitments to you,” adding the parastatal will “work tirelessly” to clear the backlog, estimated by Transnet human resources executive, Pradeep Maharaj, at six to eight weeks. Wells goes on to say:
“With Utatu (one of the two unions involved in the strike) back at work earlier this week, we reached levels of efficiency in Durban, Richards Bay and Saldanha higher than the pre-strike period.”