The East London car terminal
The East London Terminal recorded a 67% increase in container volumes at the end of May.
The terminal originally budgeted for the handling of 3 058 twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEUs) but ended up moving 5 131 TEUs.
The bulk of the containerised cargo in the region services the automotive sector.
Terminal manager Naliya Stamper says the automotive industry has been experiencing shortages of critical parts needed to fully assemble vehicles, owing to persistent Covid-19 interruptions and supply chain issues, until higher export volumes were handled in May.
In the same month, the terminal exported 17% more fully built units totalling 7 688 against a budget of 6 555.
The number of vessels calling at the terminal also increased from four vessels in January to between 9 and 11 in the four months ended May 31.
Stamper says the operational team had also managed to perform above key performance indicator targets averaging 183 units per hour at the end of May against a target of 160.
“Sticking to maintenance regimes to ensure 100% equipment availability, having employees show up for duty and finding opportunities to improve efficiencies daily made this achievement possible.”
The terminal currently has a design capacity of 5 054 fully built units, 93 000 TEUs and 66 000 t of agricultural bulk.