They're waiting for Cosmos switch-on
WHILE THE Port of Durban container terminal went open gates on April 1, the other main ports are not following the same practice before they're ready, according to senior Portnet management.
The container terminal in Durban already has all its procedures in place. And, with years of handling thousands of private sector, long-haul container carriers in-and-out of the terminal each month, the addition of this extra short-haul traffic imposes no real problems. The control system is already long-practised.
But the other container ports (East London, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town) are waiting for Cosmos (Portnet's new computer system) to get going before throwing open their gates.
Said Ronnie Kingwill, g.m. for western ports (including PE and CT): Because we are not legally obligated by the court judgement (made in Durban Supreme Court) to go for April 1, we have been in consultation with the industry on this dating.
The recommendation is that - because they (agents and shippers) are not ready - it has been agreed that we all wait till Cosmos is up-and-running for tracking containers in-and-out of the terminal before we get going.
The Port of East London will follow the moves in Port Elizabeth, according to Jan Jansen, g.m. for eastern ports - while it's all go at his main harbour in Durban.
Cosmos - originally planned to switch on this month - has, meantime, been delayed.
The system was written for IBM hardware. Portnet had originally intended to modify the software to match its own local hardware.
But, said Kingwill, this meant juggling with the system, which proved unsatisfactory. It has now been decided to go for IBM hardware, and use the off-the-shelf Cosmos packages.
But, he added, that means closed gates till about August/September - although the latch has already been lifted in the minds of Portnet.
