Shippers get surcharge reprieve for now

Lines satisfied with Sapo’s interventions
ALAN PEAT
AFTER A meeting in Cape Town last week the container shipping lines have expressed themselves content with the port's plans to cut ship delays at the Port of Durban to a minimum. Dave Rennie, director in charge of Grindrod Freight Services and chairman of the Container Liner Operators' Forum (Clof), told FTW that a meeting had taken place with Transnet and SA Port Operations (Sapo) about congestion at the port. “The plans they have in place – short- and medium-term – gave us lines the comfort that the situation will improve,” he said, “as indeed it has over the last couple of weeks.” Rennie pointed out that there were now 15 gantry cranes in operation, for example. “More than ever before,” he said. The parties also acknowledged that there had been a concerted effort by Sapo to focus on reducing the delays, according to John Dludlu, GM for communications at Transnet. As part of this plan the following changes have been implemented:
• Deployment of senior management and all other levels of management, including labour, in a 24/7 operations command centre focusing on hourly performance monitoring and problem solving;
• An increase in the resource capacity;
• The creation of yard stacking space through early evacuation of containers and efficient stacking;
• An increase in operational efficiency; and,
• Use of international experts in operations systems and planning. “The executives of Clof and Transnet believe that these actions have made a significant impact on reducing delays,” said Dludlu. In order to sustain these operational service levels the Sapo management team will be implementing further operational enhancement initiatives over the next six to 12 months, including:
• The training and development of operational staff;
• The fast tracking of Pier 1 additional capacity;
• A new gate with higher capacity and fast throughput
• Three new super post panamax STS cranes to replace outdated Demag cranes;
• A truck appointment system; and
•Modernised stacking based on international best practice.” Dludlu felt that these short- and medium-term actions would enable SA’s container supply chain to be efficient on a sustainable basis.