CTCT plans further capacity increases

Plans are in place to extend and increase the capacity of the Cape Town Container Terminal (CTCT) following the successful completion of the most recent upgrade in July last year. According to Cape Town port manager Sipho Nzuza, the terminal now provides one million-TEU capacity per annum, but this can be increased should the need arise. “The terminal is doing very well and the year-to-date performance is already sitting at around 14% above our budget, with projections indicating that this figure could increase even more towards the end of the year.” He said the good performance of container business in Cape Town was due largely to the revamping of the terminal, with an investment of R4.2 billion which significantly increased throughput and extended the quay wall to a depth of 15.5 metres over the 1 132-metre long quay. “The terminal also saw new ship-to-shore gantry cranes erected and it now has the capacity to receive and service some 8 000- TEU vessels,” said Nzuza. Further investment in the CTCT has seen the acquisition of six new super post-panamax shipto- shore gantry cranes and the construction of 2 700 reefer plug points, resulting in a total of 3 752 points. “The port also put in place a wind strategy that is deployed as and when required,” he said. The Cape Town port is the only port in the country to continue operating in wind speeds of up to 80km per hour. This is thanks to the development of this strategy that sees them using both rubber tyre gantries (RTGs) and straddle carriers in the stack. “The terminal has also at times diverted some cargo through the multi-purpose terminal – all strategies that have worked relatively successfully to date.” He said at present maintenance dredging was taking place in the port. “A large portion of this has been completed but there are still pockets of work remaining in order to get all the berths down to depth.”