WITH THE concessioning of Durban container terminal expected to get underway soon, a question has arisen in the freight industry: What about the equipment at DCT which, along with labour, has been cited as the cause for low productivity? But the answer from members of the industry who have the issue of concessioning in their portfolios is that this will not cause any unexpected problems. “SA Port Operations (Sapo) is looking at getting six extra ship-to-shore cranes in quickly,” said Dave Rennie, MD of Unifeeder, chairman of the Container Liner Operators Forum (Clof), and one of the Grindrod group executives with a concessioning focus. “Any concessionaire would be looking at getting optimum productivity out of the existing cranes and possibly adding some if necessary. “I don’t see any conflict there.” The other equipment, Rennie added, could be used effectively by the concessionaire provided it is managed properly. An indicator of this, he told FTW, might be seen in the latest situation in Durban where shipping lines feel that the problem of productivity at the port is easing. “We have certainly seen a positive trend in productivity at DCT,” Rennie said. Anyway, when looking at equipment suitability, nobody will be going into the privatisation at the Port of Durban with their eyes closed, said Derek Lawrence, consultant to aspirant concessionaire, Durban-based SA/US joint-venture, Dudula-CSX World Terminals. “When the tendering procedure gets underway a data room will be assembled for all the interested parties to view. “Everybody will, therefore, have all the information they need before bidding.”
