Combination of factors creates unholy mess at Durban Pier 1

Cosmos breakdowns lead to chaos ALAN PEAT THERE HAS been serious cartage congestion at Durban’s Pier 1 – the number two container berth after the main Durban container terminal (DCT). A memo forwarded to FTW showed that the terminal was operating at the capacity of 98% in the first week of April – and the SA Port Operations (Sapo) management had admitted to a number of problems exacerbating the cartage congestion situation. One, according to Ningi Khumalo, customer services manager of Pier 1 container terminal, was containers being stacked in undefined areas in the terminal due to two vessels on berth discharging approximately 1 000 containers. And, said Khumalo, “this scenario coupled with the frequent breakdown of straddle machines has contributed to the slow turn-around of cartage vehicles”. A second problem was related to the computer system. “When terminal capacities exceed 70%,” said Khumalo, “the Cosmos system - to maximise the use of every ground slot - begins to amalgamate road and rail boxes in the same rows. “This scenario now leads to longer turn around time, as the straddle has to shift boxes to get to the box that the transporter needs to pick up.” At the end of that week, the whole issue was discussed in a meeting between the port authorities and the Durban harbour carriers section of the SA Association of Freight Forwarders (Saaff). According to carriers’ chairman, Malcolm Sodalay of transport outfit Sammar Investments, it was easy to understand where the problems were arising. The equipment on Pier 1 is second-hand cast-offs from DCT - and “we all suffer from the consequences”. But the positive aspect of the meeting was that Sapo has agreed to improve its communication with users and have regular monthly meetings with the carriers – similar to the two-way get togethers with DCT, Sodalay added. “They have also agreed with various points we made, and changes are taking place to alleviate the issue,” he told FTW. But there’s another problem for the truckers coming from the private sector. There is a three-day period when a stack is open for cartage operators to pick up import boxes – and make space for the export stack. But cartage instructions from forwarding agents and importers are often last-minute arrivals – and often truckers are physically unable to collect all the boxes in the required time slot. “We all need to get our problems sorted out,” Sodalay said – adding that the Cosmos hitch was down for discussion at a meeting with Sapo the following week.