Double bag handler speeds output

THE LAST two years have been a period of vigorous expansion in Cape Town for SA Stevedores (SAS) - which also provides stevedoring and related functions at the ports of Richards Bay, Durban, Port Elizabeth East London and Saldanha Bay. This, said SAS executive Hugh Wyatt, followed the re-establishment of the company’s own identity in the port of Cape Town after severing a joint-venture operation at the beginning of 2003. While continuing to provide a service to its established clients, SAS also acquired a major export contract in March of that year - being contracted by PPC Cement to handle its total export volumes through the port. “This encouraged us to introduce certain innovative projects which enabled SA Port Operations (Sapo) to double their output,” said Wyatt. Two of these innovations were the introduction of multi-unit bag lifting spreaders, and new forklift trucks with a capacity to reach the required stow height. “We realised that Sapo fulfilled an important function in that they deliver the cargo to the hook. “Given this, SAS developed a double bag handler which allowed that doubling of Sapo’s output.” These changes saw SAS vastly increasing the shift tonnages to in excess of 2 500-tons per 8-hour shift - well within world standards. “It allowed us to load a vessel of 20 000-t in 4-days whereas, in the past, this would have taken approximately 10-12 days.” Following this success, SAS started looking for other business - with a particular focus on the bulk market, Wyatt told FTW.