The official launch of City Deep’s R800-million makeover was celebrated with fanfare this morning at a ribbon-cutting ceremony as one of Transnet Freight Rail’s new Rail Mounted Gantries (RMGs) demonstrated its rail to truck versatility.
The investment has doubled capacity at the terminal to 400 000 TEUs per annum, underscoring City Deep’s status as Africa’s biggest inland port.
The upgrade involved the replacement of all container-handling equipment with new state of the art RMGs, reach stackers and container handlers.
It’s also seen the installation of the Navis terminal operating system, with the same platform as marine ports, and the installation of a new gate and weighbridge system which significantly improves security and safety.
The gate system automatically reads the registration of arriving trucks and containers. “Every truck that comes into the terminal carrying containers goes through the gate and is weighed,” a spokesman told FTW Online. “The system has optical character readers which read the number plate and the container to ensure that the information corresponds with that supplied by the customer. If there is any deviation we pull the truck off and process it differently or send it back.”
Transnet acting group chief executive, Siyabonga Gama, led the celebration which was attended by hundreds of employees from the terminal, customers and suppliers.
“Over the last couple of years, we have been growing this business at levels several times higher than economic growth rates.
“Because of the additional stacking capacity, we are able to tailor-make and customise storage solutions for our big volume customers – especially fast-moving consumer goods,” he said.
