“The Port Klang based project forwarder gives advice on successful project shipping in Sudan – ‘Start early on the paperwork!’”
Port Sudan, Sudan – CNC Freight Services Sdn Bhd, a Port Klang based project cargo specialist, recently completed successfully yet another oil field project in Port Sudan for the Malaysian EPCC contractor HLE-BWM-SP Joint Venture. CNC Freight Services, a member of the Global Project Logistics Network (GPLN), arranged the final shipment from Lumut Port, Malaysia to Port Sudan for 18 skids / vessels totalling 4000 f/t and another 20 feus of additional materials. The largest piece of cargo was a Crude Oil Separator Skid measuring L 17.50 x W 5.72 x H 4.30 meter and weighing 55.00 mt. The total volume of cargo involved in the above project amounted to 8,000 f/t . Two part charters of 2000 f/t and 1000 f/t had been shipped earlier in the month of September and October respectively.
But even though this was project cargo, the size of the cargo wasn’t the most difficult part of the job. “The documentation process is indeed tricky,” said Patrick Lee, CEO of CNC Freight Services, “This is due to vessel’s fast transit time, only 12 days from Port Lumut to Port Sudan.” But because of port formalities even pre-clearing the cargo the time frame was still very tight. “In Port Sudan, all oversized cargoes must be discharged direct from vessel,” explained Lee, “Vessels are not allowed to berth for direct discharge if documentation is not cleared ahead of vessel arrival. The customs clearance overall process takes almost the same time. This takes into account of application, processing of import tax exemption formalities which takes place in the capital of Khartoum and can drag on up to more than a week. After which, it takes another 3 – 4 days for the papers to be cleared at seaport.”
For success in project traffic to Sudan, Lee recommends being on the ball with the paperwork from the beginning. “One has to pay utmost attention on the documentation process ensuring all documents are handed quickly to [the clearing agent in] Sudan,” advises Lee, “For this vessel charter on “Mellum”, despite all the close monitoring, the vessel had to wait for more than 24 hours waiting for the cargo to be cleared. And we ended up paying a day’s demurrage charges.” And Patrick Lee feels he got off lucky with only one day’s demurrage. “There have been worse scenerios for some parties unaware about the local operations and in one case more than 8 days of detention was involved,” says Lee, “At USD18,000 per day, it came up to USD 144,000.”
Patrick Lee stresses that getting the documentation done speedily requires very close communication and coordination with the consignee’s representatives. “By now we were very much integrated with all parties at destination,” says Lee, ”With close coordination with the consignee logistics personnel in both Khartoum and Port Sudan and local shipping agent as well as the local forwarder, we were able to synchronize for the smooth discharge of the cargoes.”
CNC Freight Services Sdn Bhd is an international freight forwarding company based in Port Klang, Malaysia, that specializes in project cargo forwarding. CNC is also a Global Project Logistics Network member in Malaysia. The Global Projects Logistics Network (GPLN) is an internationally well known non-exclusive professional projects logistics group for independent companies specializing in international projects shipping by air, sea and land as well as specialized lifts and handling of oversized, out-of-gauge and heavy lift cargo.
