Corrective action plan for CT revealed

Ray Smuts
SOUTH AFRICAN Port Operations (Sapo) has come up with several positive proposals to address the congestion crisis in the Port of Cape Town.
This follows a recent meeting of the Cape Town port congestion committee attended by Durban-based Sapo manager Nad Govender.
Corrective action will include:
l Opening additional in-port areas for container storage
l Greater integration of the various sectors such as containers and breakbulk
l Intensifying the movement of containers in close collaboration with labour by examining slightly different shift structures which could overlap, thereby making for a more continuous operation throughout the day and night.
"We are looking at the the issue of empties and we are going to talk to some of the major players to see how we can overcome port blockages by moving containers out," says Albert Schuitmaker, executive director of the Cape Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry and sole spokesman for the congestion committee.
One possible stacking area will be the old Marine Drive power station bought by Portnet a few years back.Schuitmaker says there appears to be a "great realisation" in Sapo ranks that the situation in Cape Town is serious and that it has, as a matter of some urgency, to allocate resources to alleviate the state of affairs.