Destructive ‘Cape doctor’ neutralises port’s good intentions

Little support for off-peak trucking access RAY SMUTS FULLY COGNISANT of the importance of fruit to Cape Town’s container terminal, business unit manager Oscar Borchards has arranged with Sapo colleague Earl Peters to stack 400 import boxes at the multi-purpose terminal for the duration of the fruit season and in so doing create more space for export containers. At the same time, reacting to many complaints about bottlenecks in gaining trucking access to the terminal, Borchards recently created a new fast lane which he hopes will substantially reduce congestion. “The peak period for trucks is between 10:00 and 16:00, very few arriving thereafter. We have been trying to sell the after 18:00 slot to the wider industry - come at night when it’s quiet - but it is unfortunate that companies tend to close at 17:00 so support has been minimal.” Borchards says 2004 volumes have probably peaked at 580 000 TEUs and that projected growth for this year is 4%, in line with the country’s anticipated growth rate. Annual ship calls have dropped from 100 to about 60 a year, but call sizes have almost doubled over the past year from 300 to 550 on average per ship. Regarding wind delays of about 80 hours on average per vessel in January and February, Borchards says it was half this a year ago. “We have been very unfortunate in that when we wish to start working a ship the wind flares up and the only thing one can do once it subsides is work as fast as possible.” Borchards has confirmed his promise of 2 000 reefer plug points to the fruit industry and verified that 1 700 fixed and 300 mobile plugs were indeed in place.