Belcon ‘staging facility’ comes up trumps

A pilot project aimed at
increasing port productivity
and decreasing congestion
by incorporating the
Belville Container Terminal
(Belcon) in Cape Town is
bearing fruit.
Zurayda Christians,
Transnet National Ports
Authority key account
manager, told FTW that
currently two shuttles of 40
containers were operating
daily between Belcon and
the port.
“This is sufficient at this
stage but we are hoping
to increase the number of
shuttles as demand rises,”
she said.
With the container
terminal situated 24km
from the port there were
real benefits in dropping
containers here rather than
at the port itself, she said.
“The project is really
aimed at improving
productivity within the
Port of Cape Town
and improving
operational
effciency,’ she
said. “It also
speaks to
the shift
from
road to rail, reducing the
cost of doing business and
carbon emissions.”
Christians said the aim
was not to stop all trucks
serving the Port of Cape
Town but to implement a
value-added service.
“The Belcon project is
about using the facility as
an extension to the port.
Instead of a truck having
to come all the way to Cape
Town it can drop and pick
up at Belcon from where
the cargo is moved via
rail to the port. The time
saved due to the traffic
congestion in the city with
that 24km can make a big
difference and will be a
benefit to our customers,”
she said. “At the same time
wind remains one of the
big challenges in the port
which comes to a
standstill
when it is wind bound.
Belcon is not affected
by wind at all and so
operations can continue as
normal.”
She said the pilot project
was proving that terminal
operational efficiency
could be significantly
improved through the
Belcon operations.
“We are able to
improve terminal space
management, congestion
in the port is reduced,
and when windbound we
are able to get the port
operational more quickly
than before.”
Belcon offers the port
103 006 sqm with 5536
TEU capacity and 150
reefer plug points.
“If one considers that
some 44.6% of
the port’s
volume
comes from
the N1 and N2 northern
area and beyond, then it
makes sense to have this
facility. It shortens their
trip by 24km,” she said.
Christians said Belcon
and the port used identical
stacking methodologies,
with Belcon mirroring the
container terminal stacks.
“We are running
Belcon on the same
operating model as
the port and once a
container is in the
Belcon facility it
is considered
as being in
the port,” she
said.