Durban Container Terminal

When a container is detained for inspection, shippers can choose which yard the container will be inspected at, often with notification and booking for space, but container yards like Durban Container Terminal must cooperate by providing resources and facilitating quick unpacking and movement upon request.

“If a container or a set of containers is brought in for inspection, and then they get detained, let us say they get detained before inspection, they will then say, take them to this yard. There is a booking that I can accommodate them for you for this week. Otherwise they will go into a stack where they are paying cheap rental while it is being installed. So in this case, CHC or LCS or Grindrod, they will say to you, okay, I have got five spaces for five containers today, then in two days' time you can do the next containers for inspection ... the shipping agent or the shippers, they do say, listen, this cargo is going to LCS, the cargo is going to Grindrod, the cargo is going to CHC. They can choose that. But there are some instances where we know that, like Durban Container Terminal, there is relationships, I need a container check today, I will phone them, hey guys, I need a favour, can I bring a container to you quickly?”