‘Durban needs to up its game’

The Port of Durban is wise to
invest in its overall infrastructure
because up the coast the Port of
Maputo will be giving Durban a
run for its money in five to ten
years’ time, predicts Ian Hall,
general manager/MD of DP
World Cargo Services.
“There are quite a number
of expansions at Maputo going
forward and to stay competitive
Durban needs to get productivity
levels up to the same levels as
the larger terminal operators.
At Durban they are doing 18-25
moves an hour. They should be
up to 35-40,” said Hall.
Acknowledging that the
Durban port, where DPWCS
moves up to 30 000 containers
per month, has spent considerable
sums upgrading its facilities, Hall
said operational improvements
had yet to be sustained on a
regular basis. Certain benchmarks
must be reached to provide
pay-off for the investment, in the
opinion of stevedore operations
like DP World Cargo Services.
“Definitely they’ve invested
a large amount of money in port
infrastructure itself, and what we
are looking for is an increase in
productivity. Then there must be
less congestion of trucks moving
in and out of the port, and better
productivity on the vessel side as
well,” Hall said.
Some speeds ultimately
depend on the cargo moved.
DPWCS works on the vessels,
handling various shipping lines
such as MACS Shipping’s
liner requirements for instance,
because ships’ crews are not
permitted to handle cargo. In
the stevedoring industry it is a
Transnet requirement to be a
licensed operator. DPWCS’s
workers, using ships’ cranes,
(Transnet operates the wharf
side cranes) can load/discharge
all types of project, break-bulk
and bulk cargo. Of the five
regional ports where DP World
Cargo Services operates, Durban
is the busiest, and home to the
company’s HQ.