Demise of CTOs generally welcomed

The intended demise of the container terminal order (CTO) – the document required before containerised cargo can be picked up at the harbour container terminals – has drawn widely divergent reactions. As the new Navis computer system shifts into gear at each of the ports, Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) has announced that it will mark the end of CTOs. For the meantime, CTOs will remain for cargoes through the Port of Durban’s Point and Maydon Wharf quays, where there are no plans for Navis as yet. They will also still be required for hazardous and out-of-gauge boxes. But the eventual intention, said Transnet, is for Navis to be the port system around the country, and the CTOs to eventually disappear. The fact that TPT wants to do away with CTOs is a disturbing idea, says Cheree Atkins of CTO Logistics. “The impact of this here in Durban will be catastrophic. There are many people employed in this industry who deal with this function and, even at the latest meeting with the port authority, there was still no clarity on when they would be doing away with the documents. “However, we were told to be ready, and were asked what sort of time frame we could accept. None of this is good for us. We are told by government that they are trying to create employment. This is hard to believe when the livelihood of many hangs in the balance due to a parastatal company.” Atkins insisted that the system still didn’t work properly in Cape Town, and that unprocessed CTOs were still being presented. She also pointed at Durban’s Pier 1, where the Navis system is now already in use. “The transporters have been complaining bitterly, as they don’t believe it works. The turn-around time is shocking, and there appears to be no solution in sight, with TPT saying that the system works. Hard to believe when your driver has sat for seven hours and the traffic is backed up for kilometres.” But it’s not Navis that is to blame for the Pier 1 jam-ups, according to Paul Rayner, MD of short-haul container transporters, DTB Cartage. The problem there was because of the recent introduction of the rubbertyred gantries (RTGs) – used for moving and stacking the boxes as they are unloaded from the ship at quayside. Unlike Pier 2 (the Durban container terminal), where straddle carriers do the job, no truck can enter the stacking area while RTGs are working. That, he added, seriously cuts back the free time truckers have to pick up boxes, and adds to the congestion already endemic on the presently singlelane port access along the Bayhead Road. Kevin Martin, MD of Freightliner and chairman of the Durban Harbour Carriers’ Association (DHCA) section of the SA Association of Freight Forwarders (Saaff), also disagreed with Atkins. “Navis works very well at Pier 1 and Cape Town,” he said. “So we are happy.” He also suggested that the demise of the CTO still leaves opportunity for companies that currently process CTOs. “For the automatic system to work, the export boxes need to be pre-advised for their details to be scanned into the works,” he said – thumb sucking that this is only about 10% of the total export volume. “This still leaves room for agents who will key in and distribute the pre-advice notices to the appropriate parties, unless it’s all going to be done by the box packers. In other words, turn CTO centres into pre-advice centres.