AS THE festive season approaches so do the shut-down times for the Transnet subsidiaries.
In the case of Spoornet, there's no complete shut-down intended although the entire service will be running with a skeleton staff from the December 16 holiday onwards.
This, FTW was told, brings the service into line with the industrial holiday period amongst clients - like the coal exporting mines, for example - but allows for the transport of any goods which still need to be moved through the festive period.
January 3 will see the railways totally back to normal business hours.
Portnet, meantime, has a more varied holiday schedule with container and breakbulk facilities doing their own things.
In the case of the container terminals, according to Portnet executive John Hyde in Durban, there's a national shut-down on both Christmas Day (December 25) and New Year (January 1). But it's open as normal the rest of the time, he told FTW.
The terminals close at 18:00 on the 24th and 31st - and open at 06:00 on the 26th and 2nd of January.
Although the 16th and 26th are public holidays, said Hyde, they're both normal working days for us.
In the case of breakbulk, it's a little more complicated. The only finalised shut-down diaries available at time of writing were from Durban, and even there the two relevant harbour sections have different plans.
Although the timing for the other ports is likely to vary little from that of the main harbour it would be advisable to check with your local port management if you have any breakbulk cargoes moving on or near the holiday dates.
In the case of Durban, the combi-terminal starts to slow down from December 16, according to manager Jacob Nare. On this Day of Reconciliation, the terminal will work the normal 07:00-15:00 day shift, but will also work a night shift if vessel loading needs to be completed.
December 22 has two shifts - 06:00-14:00 and 14:00-22:00. December 23 and 24 will both have 06:00-14:00 shifts worked but will add a 14:00-18:00 short shift if vessel loading needs to be completed.
Christmas Day is shut-down, but December 26 sees the terminal working 06:00-14:00 - with that 14:00-18:00 short shift if required.
December 29 has the same two shifts as the 22nd - and the 30th and 31st the same as the 26th.
New Year's Day the terminal is closed but is back to normal working hours on January 2.
The City Terminals in Durban (the Point quays), meantime, work the following schedule. December 16 - 07:00-15:00; 24th - 07:00-17:00; 25th - closed; 26th - 07:00-15:00; 31st - 07:00-15:00; January 1 - closed.
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