Durban catches up with backlog

Terry Hutson DURBAN'S BELEAGUERED container terminal should have caught up with the backlog caused by the October strikes by November 9. That was the confident report from South African Port Operations (Sapo) at the weekend, which said at the weekend that a team effort implemented earlier in October was delivering the goods. Measures included bringing on two fully-fledged 12 hour shift operations to enable flexible working in the terminal; a combination of straddle and trailer/hauler operations on the east quay, which has facilitated quick loading and offloading of containers; and the introduction of an interim productivity incentive scheme to improve the turn-around time of vessels. Provided weather conditions and other factors allow, the backlog should be cleared by the end of the first week of November, says Sapo. On Sunday (October 27) seven ships were on berth, nine were waiting outside and another four were expected to arrive on Monday. "Our achievement is noteworthy because, in addition to the strike backlog, the Durban container terminal has lost hours because of bad weather," said Sapo CEO Tau Morwe. On October 12 and 13 the NPA closed the port to shipping because of dangerously high swells, which caused a loss of 26 hours. Another 218 ship working team hours were lost between 18 and 26 October due to high swells and strong winds. "We've been working three 8-hour shifts of 12 teams around the clock and a 13th team when possible to ease the backlog, and achieved record container moves of as much as 4 091 across the quay in a 24-hour period. By the end of October DCT expects to have handled more than 80 000 container moves," he said. The mobile crane from Richards Bay was recently deployed after repairs, increasing the complement to 15 waterside cranes, and is expected to make its mark on productivity shortly.