Transnet’s efforts to decongest Durban Port are bearing fruit as transporters continue to report improved turnaround times in recent weeks – but they say more can still be done to improve port workflow and the truck appointment system. Ashley Govender, chairman of Concerned Harbour Carriers’ Association, which represents more than 120 trucking firms, said there had been an improvement in port efficiency although transporters who made use of the truck booking system still had to wait in long queues.
“There are still days where we are spending six to ten hours in the port. At A check area we are still waiting three to four hours but we are not sitting at the 18 to 24 hours like we used to,” Govender said. Transporters were making good use of the truck booking system but bookings were limited and truckers still experienced a three-hour turnaround in the port, he added. “Pier 1 is another kettle of fish all together; there are just constant delays.” Govender said it was time Transnet compensated transporters if they were forced to wait for longer than 90 minutes for service.
Gerald Naidu, a manager at SA Inland Logistics, said the company had been using the truck booking system effectively. However, he ascribed the improvement in turnaround times largely to lower import volumes in recent weeks. “We have had no issues with it because of the volumes being lower. The vehicles are going out pretty okay. The only time we have an issue is due to the weather,” Naidu said. Durban transporter Kevin Martin said there had been an improvement compared to two years ago and transporters were working closely with Transnet to tackle port congestion.
However, he said, there was “still a long way to go” to eradicate delays. “We haven’t got to the citrus season yet and then we will see if their plans of action are working but we are working in committees towards a justifiable result. It is a work in progress; we have these improvements because we have worked with them and not against them to try and improve to service levels which we believe would be acceptable.” Martin said transporters had previously negotiated a 90-minute turnaround time as acceptable.
“There have been some months where we have got close to it or relatively close. We are in the right trend pattern.” He added that in order to make the truck booking system work effectively it was necessary to ensure that some depots remained open 24/7. “You need to have 24-hour depots, because you can’t have a logistics chain and booking system where depots close at 10pm at night in the week and at 3pm or 4pm on a Saturday and Sunday,” Martin said.
This meant that depots were not available for 33% of the time during the week and for 66% of the time at weekends, making it difficult to run an optimally efficient 24-hour truck booking system. The port needed to spread the workload between stacks during ship discharging to improve efficiency and to address the problem of the high volume of unassigned containers, he added.
This was especially a problem at Pier 1 which at times had as many as 42% unassigned. “When someone comes for a container and the container they want is below the unassigned boxes, it is costing time and money to move the boxes in order to get to the boxes the transporters are looking for,” Martin said. “It’s not a shipping line problem but a freight forwarding problem as they should make sure the moment it hits the quay it is cleared and moved.” A routine decongestion meeting to discuss these issues with Transnet is scheduled for this week.
Quote:The improvement in turnaround times is largely due to lower import volumes in recent weeks. – Gerald Naidu
