The Cape Town Container Terminal (CTCT) has seen a major improvement in operations, according to Dawn Sayster, Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) planning manager for the Cape terminals.The terminal has been bedevilled by delays and ageing equipment, leading to congestion on a large scale – so much so that at times, shipping lines have opted to bypass the Port of Cape Town completely.Speaking at the Transport Forum recently, Sayster said the CTCT in particular had seen a 52% improvement in operations for the year to date as various strategies had been implemented to address the congestion. Regarding the Cape’s terminals – which include the container terminal at the Port of Ngqura (NCT), the container and automotive terminals at the Port of Gqeberha (PECT and PE Auto), the automotive terminal at the East London Port (ELS Auto) and the CTCT – Sayster said berthing delays had been a serious challenge, but that this was starting to improve at all the terminals in the Western and Eastern Cape.According to Sayster, volumes at all the ports had been down the past two years, mostly due to the outbreak of Covid-19 and the impact this had had on global trade.“As economic activity returns, we are hopeful that we will see volumes increase again,” she said.Sayster highlighted another major challenge for Cape Town: the weather. Wind surging adversely affected the CTCT, bringing operations to a complete standstill at times.“Surging is quite challenging as it impacts on our ability to work vessels. In Cape Town, we have seen an increase of 11% in our weather delays,” she said. “In January this year, only seven days were not impacted by the weather. In the same month, we lost 24 hours of operations at one point. In essence, we have lost 67.7 days for the year to date because of weather alone.”The wind wasn’t the only issue. Often, fog prohibited operations and weather issues had also impacted the NCT, she said.Sayster admitted that ageing equipment had affected the Cape terminals’ operations, especially at the CTCT.Despite this, she said, “we have developed an operational efficiency improvement programme to improve the f low of containers into and out of the container terminal. This programme addresses issues on both the water and landside. “The goal is to improve the availability and reliability of equipment, and to improve our planned maintenance and response time to breakdowns.”The plan also included increasing the number of RTGs in the operation and looking at ways to improve yard and vessel planning capabilities, she told the Transport Forum.“We are also calling on customers to make more use of the night shift. We have already seen an increase in the uptake of that, and more cargo is being moved on the landside during the night.”Improvements were being made to the mandatory truck appointment system and TPT was also collaborating with original equipment manufacturers to address some of the issues around crane and RTG maintenance. This was an approach taken by TPT across the country to address the equipment challenges it was experiencing, said Sayster. It spoke to the reduction of critical spares lead time on equipment and reduced downtime. “We are continuously looking at ways of how we can do it better. A wind strategy is also in place to address the issues around the weather. "Aeging equipment has affected the Cape terminals’ operations, especially at the CTCT.– Dawn Sayster
