Big container improvement
THE PORT of Cape Town has performed better over the past year, according to Colin Schultz, distribution manager of major port user SANS Fibres, and chairman of the Port Liaison Forum.
I'd say a good year,
he said. Ship working
better, container turnaround improved.
Some draconian measures introduced, some new flexibility.
Generally speaking, though, there has been an improvement.
Possibly the best thing, Schultz added, has been that Portnet is now very open to discussion.
From the container side, there have not been
too many issues, he said, and these have normally been sorted out pronto through the Liaison Form.
But, Schultz added, if there's one area of concern, it's breakbulk.
The facilities are utterly inefficient, he said. I was just appalled at the
way things are done - and the lack of productivity.
The fees for what you're getting from the combi-terminal Schultz rates as extortionate.
The matter has been raised at the forum, he added, but may not be too easily worked out on a local basis.
Schultz suggests that - while Portnet in Cape Town might want to
support its breakbulk users - the people at Braamfontein head office just don't seem to want to co-operate.
Kyle Stemmet of ships agents, King & Sons, agrees.
A long, tedious year for breakbulk working, was how he put it.
As the biggest user of the combi-terminal, Stemmet condemns what he describes as a collection of inadequate equipment.
The port has been promised some new equipment from Durban - which might help, said Stemmet. But it's been a bad patch in the meantime.
Other issues, he said, include the fact that re-surfacing has just come to a sudden stop.
And, in the face of all this, Portnet is still
after more cash from the breakbulk users, according to Stemmet.
They have just started to raise overtime for night-shift working, he told FTW. Something that shouldn't happen in a port that's supposed to be working 24-hours-a-day.
The lines, of course, objected - but they've had little choice but to pay it.
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