Desperate need for modern
equipment, writes Ray Smuts
The subject: Productivity
The candidate: Portnet Cape Town's combi-terminal
The pass rate: 30% at best
That, at least, is the assessment of 'invigilator' Chris Sutton, operations manager for Christensen Canadian African Line (CCAL), who flew from Durban to the Mother City last week to personally address the port's combiÑterminal productivity headache at the regular Port Liaison Forum gathering.
It was an issue alluded to by Peter Odendaal, chairman of the Association of Shipping Lines' Cape Town branch (FTW July 21 2000), when he spoke of a number of pressing issues including service levels, the high cost of overtime, unreasonable working hours of staff and the high-handedness of terminal management.
Sutton told FTW Cape Town's new port services manager Malcolm Green had agreed with the unhappy state of affairs within the combi-terminal and undertaken to follow up the matter.
If Portnet does not come to the party the shipping lines will have some serious decisions to make, but I am hopeful that Nad Govender, the new general manager of breakbulk services, will address our problems.
Cape Town, asserted Sutton, desperately needed an efficient combi-terminal to service multi-purpose services like CCAL, Lykes Lines and MACS, yet modern equipment was lacking, a case in point being the 30-year-old straddle carriers.
As to his assessment of efficiency at the combi-terminal on a scale of one to ten, Sutton said he would be unable to come up with a score higher than 30%.
Also at the PLF meeting was Gavin Cooper, chairman of the South African Association of Freight Forwarders, Western Cape branch, who told me Portnet Cape Town was apportioning blame to head office for not approving capital expenditure.
It's a bit of a mess at the moment and my opinion is that head office often makes decisions which are Johannesburg-type head office decisions.
Cooper said another point of concern aired at the meeting was that some private hauliers did not have twist locks on their vehicles which was contrary to Road Traffic Ordinance regulations.
Local traffic authorities must do something about it because containers are often being loaded onto what amounts to unroadworthy vehicles.
Odendaal agreed with Cooper, adding: I cannot imagine any reputable company agreeing to have its cargo conveyed on an unsafe vehicle.
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