Singapore warehouse delays frustrate metals traders

SINGAPORE, May 7 (Reuters) - Queues for loading metal onto trucks at London Metal Exchange-approved warehouser Henry Bath's Singapore facilities are frustrating customers waiting up to five times longer than usual to pull metal out of storage. In response to an exodus of aluminium from Singapore, where more than 11 percent of global stocks are stored, warehousing company Henry Bath, owned by RBS Sempra Commodities Limited, introduced on April 13 a rota system where trucks are allotted one of 60 daily time slots to maintain orderly deliveries. While some traders will have cancelled warrants in order to withdraw their metal well in advance, anticipating the potential for congestion after a rally in Shanghai prices opened an arbitrage to China, others have been stuck in a growing queue, a not uncommon problem during a period of high-volume trade. Some traders said sellers were discounting the premium for metal stored in busier warehouses to compensate the buyer for additional costs while waiting to remove material. "Everyone is annoyed with Henry Bath. Their deliveries are very delayed -- they are giving time slots 9-10 working days ahead," said an independent metals trader in Singapore, who was waiting for material to be delivered from the company's warehouse in the city state. "Usually it's a two-day turnaround." Officials at Henry Bath and Singapore and RBS Sempra in London declined to comment. A copy of the company's delivery regulations is available at: here out-procedure.html "We are in the queue. Whether we take one lot or 100, we have to wait two weeks. It's a total mess out there. Other warehouse companies haven't experienced the same problems and are taking two to three days," a second dealer in Singapore said. Cancelled warrants for London Metal Exchange metal globally, are high -- 20 percent of the 395,000 tonnes of copper around the world, 6 percent of the 328,000 tonnes of zinc and 1.5 percent of the 3.8 million tonnes of aluminium are on cancelled warrant and the owners want the metal moved out. Much of the material is held in Asian warehouses, stretching the capacity of warehousing companies to deliver metal. An LME official said the exchange had not received formal complaints. It requires warehouse companies to deliver out a minimum 1,500 tonnes per day, but concedes that demand for greater deliveries could cause delays. "(We) are monitoring the warehouses daily to ensure they are meeting their commitments and would investigate any complaints as a matter of course," said Robert Hall, head of Physical Operations. Traders said Henry Bath likely held the lion's share of the 8,750 tonnes of cancelled aluminium warrants in Singapore, but noted the 9,600 tonnes of cancelled zinc, likely stored stored by other companies, did not appear to be affecting schedules. "The warehouses have committed to deliver 1,500 tonnes a day -- 60 trucks -- that's a lot of material to get out," a dealer with an international trading firm said. "Normally that's not a problem, but with all the metal that's been cancelled, they are physically unable to pull out metal quickly enough. They run a first come, first served basis so someone who comes in with warrants for 200 tonnes after someone trying to shift 40,000 tonnes has to wait." The LME discloses stock data on a city by city for individual metals, but will not break down inventories on a warehouse by warehouse basis within a city. (Additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk in London; Editing by Michael Urquhart and Jonathan Leff)