The Port of Durban, having lost a little wind, is getting back on course. The upgraded container terminal, newly-acquired modern materials handling equipment and a few more hands on deck should make all the difference.

Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) celebrated a milestone in its ambitious plan of normalising operations to levels similar to those experienced by customers prior to the NAVIS system launch. The plan includes accelerated spend of CAPEX, an increase in gangs to a total of 15 by next year and improving the Reefer capacity.

Speaking at a gathering of stakeholders, Transnet Port Terminals Container Sector acting chief operations officer, Velile Dube, told the audience that this was the first of many milestones on the way to making Durban Container Terminal (DCT) an efficient and competitive business that served the needs of its stakeholders.

As part of Transnet Port Terminals’ 2011 accelerated capital expenditure plan, 28 Straddle Carriers (Straddles) have been purchased for DCT at an estimated total cost of R205 million. These include 14 Straddles that have twin-lift capability.

“We commissioned four of these Straddles and the delivery of the remainder will be rolled out until December 2011. We intend to complete the assembly of the second batch of eight Straddles by end October,” says DCT Terminal executive, Hector Danisa.

Straddles are a crucial piece of equipment in a container operation environment, in both the water-side and land-side aspect of the terminal. The new Straddles are ‘four-high’ machines, which mean that they can hold up to four containers in a stack and will add great value to the stack capacity of the terminal. The addition of the 28 Straddles will also enable the terminal to improve its productivity levels considerably over the next year. Current plans are to have a total of 113 Straddles in operation by January 2012.

TPT also unveiled a new refrigerated container yard (known as the ‘Reefer’ yard) at DCT Pier 2, which consists of 232 container slots valued at R9 million. This Reefer yard is the first at DCT to stack four containers high with a Straddle operation. The layout and design of the Reefer yard has easily-accessible walkways, which makes the operation safer for the operator and reduces the risk of damaging electric cables. Ultimately, the new yard will have a capacity of 1 068 Reefers, allowing the terminal to meet customer expectations during the next Reefer season.
Furthermore, TPT recruited 70 operators of lifting equipment (OLE) trainees in July, all of whom have undergone a certification process, with 68 OLEs to be releases to operations by next week. An additional 70 have been recruited and they too will be certified after four months. This recruitment drive is implemented with the objective of equipping DCT with 15 gangs by next year and includes cross training of OLEs to operate ship-to-shore cranes.

Included in the milestones highlighted at DCT is the roll-out of the Pre-Advice System, effective 1 October 2011. The system will become mandatory at DCT on 1 February 2012. This system is already successfully in operation at Ngqura Container Terminal. It will be phased in at DCT Pier 1 and 2 over a three month period.

According to Danisa, TPT will continue to engage with the shipping lines and industry at large with regards to the implementation of the pre-advice service.

The follow-up to this project will be a Truck Booking system, planned for rollout in 2012, which, as the name suggests, will release containers to the truckers based on an appointment process, further enhancing the flow in the terminal.