There is a serious argument in the Cape Town container terminal (CTCT) about the difference between “overall stack time” and “access time” at stacks – and it’s alleged to be causing the container trucking industry severe scheduling headaches. According to Peter Newton, director of Seaboard, service providers to ocean transport users have a longstanding undertaking from CTCT that ‘original’ (72-hour) stacks will not be closed before 21:00 for 22:00 except for Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays (SSH) – when the agreed gate-closing is 17:00. “Stack extensions beyond the ‘original’ (72 hrs),” he added, “are not subject to the 21:00 for 22:00 rule.” However, he noted, premature stack closings are creeping back, and pointed out three cases of this listed by the Cape Town Harbour Carriers’ Association (CTHCA). The first was the Hanjin Chongquin, where the stacks were accessible to the transporters from 06:00-17:00 on Sunday October 9; 06:00-21:00 on the Monday; and 06:00- 18:00 on Tuesday October 11. This, pointed out Newton, was 38 hrs – not the supposed 72 hrs. The second was the Alvsborg Bridge, where the stacks were accessible for the same hours between October 9 and 11 – again totalling 38 hrs. Third was the Maersk Gironde where the availability was between 06:h00 on Wednesday October 12 and 14:00 on Friday October 14 – again 38 hrs. “This,” said Newton, “is really too tight for service providers. It’s frankly unfair, especially when outrageous ‘late arrival’ penalties are gleefully imposed on people who are not in a position to fend for themselves. Nor is it unknown for shipping lines to take advantage of the situation for their slice of the unjust enrichment pickings.” He therefore called for Louis du Toit, acting assistant terminal manager at Transnet Port Terminals (TPT), to take steps to rectify what he described as “this unacceptable situation”. But Du Toit’s response – including the hours TPT considered were the “overall stack times” – didn’t meet with Newton’s approval. He pointed to the two separate TPT and CTHCA calculations for the stacks for the Hanjin Chongquin. The difference between the two is caused by the fact that CTCT is not a 24/7 operation, according to Newton. Therefore the CTCT calculations of overall stack time are purely theoretical, not access time on a practical basis “Stack time implies access to the stacks,” he told FTW. “This was abnormally limited in respect of the examples given – which accounts for the difference of opinion about TPT’s ‘overall stack time’ versus CTHCA’s ‘stack access times’. However, the problem could be somewhat eased from November 14. “The terminal gate is expected to go 24/7 from then,” said Newton, “when the fruit export peak season gets under way, and the Orange River grape exports start to arrive at all hours. And the reefer stack is a straddle stack – not limited to daytime use like the other stacks handled by rubber-tyred gantries (RTGs). This means that, even in the night time ‘graveyard’ shift, reefers will still be able to be road-hauled into the terminal.”
