Improving ship turnaround times, implementing a scheduling system to alleviate crippling truck congestion at the Durban Container Terminal (DCT) and rescheduling construction of the Durban Dig Out Port (DDOP) were some of the key topics discussed during a recent business-to-business breakfast hosted by Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) in Durban.

The event was intended to both introduce new TPT CE Nozipho Sithole, who succeeded Karl Socikwa, who resigned in April, and to engage with customers and stakeholders on key developments.

A Transnet panel comprising Sithole, newly appointed Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) CE Shulami Qualinge, Transnet Freight Rail CE Ravi Nair and Transnet Group chief business development manager Gert de Beer spoke of a need to improve efficiencies and partner with private-sector investors and other stakeholders to stretch dwindling resources.

Sithole said ship turnaround times at the DCT needed to be improved significantly, as TPT was still falling short of its 70 boxes an hour target. There had, however, been some improvement to 55 boxes an hour, compared with the previous 45 boxes an hour.

“Ship working hours are a function of people, planning, equipment and land space utilisation,” she said.

Equipment reliability was a critical element and she said an improved maintenance strategy that included scrapping and replacing equipment that could not be properly maintained had been introduced.

Parts for new straddle carriers had arrived and teams at TPT terminals had begun building these, she said.

Sithole said operating as an integrated port system rather than focusing on “terminals as islands” had enabled TPT to reallocate underused equipment from one terminal in Maydon Wharf to another in Richards Bay and to move straddle carriers from Cape Town to Durban.

Similarly, underused people had also been redeployed to where they were needed most.

“People productivity has to improve. This is a function of the number of [people] we allocate and performance management being communicated to staff.

“Performance measures must be reviewed daily after each shift and, if there is no improvement, corrective action must take place,” she said, adding that this would be done through training and disciplinary action.

Another critical area where efficiencies needed to be improved was truck turnaround times within the DCT.

Sithole said a truck scheduling system had been introduced on August 1 to help stem the notorious congestion along Bayhead road. This system was supposed to have been introduced in April but was withdrawn after protests from the trucking industry.

She said that the reaction now had been good, with 400 out of the 3 000 trucks that visit the port daily registering. Within three months, TPT hopes to increase this to 50% of the trucks arriving at the port.

She said the targeted time to turn around a truck was 45 minutes. “It used to be 120 minutes. In June, it had gone down to 80 minutes. Of course, we want it to be 45 minutes, so we will continue to work at it.”

Sithole admitted that recent equipment failures had seen trucks waiting outside the port entrance for up to four hours.

Repairs to quayside equipment and the scheduling system was the immediate solution, with further widening of Bayhead road a last resort.

The last upgrades were completed in 2012 at a cost of R270-million.

However, she said Transnet and the eThekwini municipality were conducting a feasibility study into further possible investment.

Meanwhile, Qualinge said projects to deepen berths and the navigation channel to accommodate bigger vessels within the Port of Durban were well under way. Owing to the complexity of the project and the need for international expertise, TNPA has allowed the evaluation and arbitration of the tender for the five-year-long contract to be completed by July and awarded in August next year.

This work is expected to sustain current operations.

“We will create additional capacity when we expand the Pier 1 precinct in the next three to four years,” she said.

Qualinge noted that, although TNPA did have plans to deepen the Cape Town harbour in response to requests from shipping lines such as MSC, it had put plans to deepen the Port Elizabeth port on hold, as the Port of Coega was adequate to handle demand.

This was one of a number of projects that would be deferred owing to a lack of cash resources.

Another project that will be deferred is the DDOP. Transnet head of infrastructure projects Hamilton Nxumalo said expansions within the existing port would provide sufficient capacity until 2029. The first ship was only likely to dock in the DDOP in 2036.

De Beer said that original timings for the DDOP had been based on expected container growth that would mirror expected gross domestic product growth of between 5% and 7%.

“Now we have flat or no growth, which moves out the dates by at least seven years. If, as a country and a region, we do not step up economic growth, it may move out further . . . We are funding this off our own balance sheet. We are not getting guarantees of support from our shareholder, so it’s a simple business decision to postpone,” he said.