NEW draft restrictions
on containerships calling at Santos in Brazil, supported by warnings from pilots
that shallow channels pose dangers to navigation, is hurting the bottom line of
ocean liners and terminal operators and affecting their services.
For every 500
centimetres of draft lost, the 10,900-TEU CMA CGM Tigris, which was
built for the east coast of South America market, must reduce its load by 1,458 TEU,
according to Sindamar, the Santos ship agents association.
A manager at
one of Santos's five box terminals told Newark's Journal of Commerce that
since the end of last year the Santos pilots and their union, called Conapra,
have been interpreting the official permitted drafts in a "way that they
have never done before."
"And
this is causing massive headaches for all concerned, shipowners, shippers and
for us in the terminals," the terminal manager said. "What they have
done is to reduce the official draft at high tide."
According to
a senior executive of a global carrier with several services operating out of
Brazil, all major shipping lines were "operating with severe and
unnecessary draft restrictions" to the number of containers that their
ships are being permitted to handle.
He said the
restrictions relate to needed dredging at the port. "The tender process
for more capital dredging just isn't moving fast enough. It is all so political
in Santos and Brasilia right now and there are many opposing forces clashing
with each other, so nothing gets done."
Santos pilots
say that until the dredging of the port's channel and berth is completed vessel
length should be restricted to 266 metres, putting the port off
limits to the biggest ships, such as the CMA CGM Tigris, which has recently
started calling Santos.
The tender
process for capital dredging at Santos to 15 metres is underway, but even if
that proceeds without any delays the new draft will not be completed until
early next year, by which time carriers will see volumes cut unnecessarily.
Source :
HKSG.
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