Bringing the market back to CT

Cape Town Terminals, has prioritised the task of finding volumes for the Port of Cape Town, said Pam Yoyo, terminal manager, commenting that container volumes are decreasing globally and shipping lines are committing to far fewer volumes than was the case several years ago. “It is our duty to go and fetch the volumes,” she said. “They are not going to just come to us. It is our responsibility to convince cargo owners across the country to use Cape Town.” Having taken up the position of managing the Cape Town Terminals in January this year, Yoyo is determined to succeed. “For our strategy to work, we need the buy-in and support of our colleagues at Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) and Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA).” Yoyo and a senior team recently visited Phalaborwa in the north of the country, where they presented the port of Cape Town to citrus exporters. “And the interest is there. It is now all about making sure we are able to offer them packages they cannot refuse.” She says growing volumes in the current market environment does require thinking out of the box. “We are also engaging on interface as Transnet divisions (TFR, TNPA and TPT) to see how we can address the interests of the customers in order to bring the market to Cape Town.” With the Container Terminal having been upgraded in the past few years to a one million TEU capacity, it was not as simple as saying that there has been a global volume decline. “We have budget targets to meet from Transnet and thus have a shared responsibility for both TPT and TNPA. Our operating licence is based upon the capacity we have. It is my job to meet that target and deliver the volumes. It is not impossible, it can be done as we’ve done before.” It is all about efficiency, Yoyo said. “If we can prove to cargo owners that we are an efficient port then we are making progress. We have seen this working for us already in the past year. If one looks at the volumes that were declared upfront as destined for Cape Town in 2014 and compare that to our budget and the actual volume we handled, then we surpassed it all.” According to her, that was because there was a lot of opportunistic volume – transshipments that were not destined for Cape Town – that the terminal managed to grab. INSERT & CAPTION It is our responsibility to convince cargo owners across the country to use Cape Town. – Pam Yoyo CAPTION Reefer containers at Cape Town Terminals. Photo: TPT