Congestion and delays at the Cape Town Container Terminal (CTTT) are reaching critical levels. In July the terminal was closed for a total of ten days due to bad weather, while a national go-slow strike exacerbated the situation. According to Terry Gale, chairman of the Exporters’ Club Western Cape, exports are suffering due to the lack of service predictability. “It is not just the congestion,” he said. “There is confusion about when stacks are open. This past week the stack on the American route was supposed to open on the Monday but by 10.30am no-one could confirm whether it was open or not. Containers loaded over the weekend had to be stored. This adds cost and it causes delays.” He said services to the East were just as haphazard. “We have times when there are no vessels calling. Some exporters are being told by clients in the UK that they would prefer to import from Chile because while it may be slightly more expensive, there is certainty in delivery, which we simply cannot guarantee out of Cape Town right now.” According to the Cape Town Harbour Carriers’ Association, truck congestion at the port is continuing to cause havoc. Whilst the problem is not inside the terminal, the long queues of trucks outside the port at any given time are a clear indication of the challenge being faced. According to Transnet National Ports Authority’s port manager, Mpumi Dweba, a new truck staging facility is on the cards for the port although it is only expected to become fully functional by 2025. “A long-term strategy for these challenges is not good enough,” a port user told FTW. “We need solutions now. We can’t wait until 2025. The staging cannot be a long-term thing. It needs focus now. We have a crisis now. Drive by the port today and see what is going on there.” According to Mike Walwyn, chairman of the Port Liaison Forum, the port has been plagued by changing weather and wave patterns that have affected its productivity. “The congestion and delays being experienced in Cape Town are costing everyone – and the terminal acknowledges that,” he said. Surging in particular has become a major concern at the port – and this affects vessels that have already berthed. In July TNPA could not bring vessels in for more than 90 hours due to bad weather. “Finding solutions to these challenges has to be a priority,” said Walwyn. He said one of the reasons for the problem was the knockon effect of events further up the coast, notably at Ngqura and Durban. “But there is also evidence that efficiencies at Cape Town have declined. In the past recovery from port closures due to weather was commendably quick, but that no longer seems to be the case. It seems that there is increasingly a shortage of serviceable equipment which indicates that maintenance may be an issue,” he said. The fruit industry has been particularly hard hit, with vessel operators cancelling calls at Cape Town in an attempt to maintain their global schedules. This results in huge additional costs for exporters, with containers in some cases having to be transported by road to Port Elizabeth to catch up with diverted vessels there. A spokesperson for CTCT blamed equipment challenges and adverse weather conditions – which that included surging, high winds and fog – for the delays. “To address the weather challenges, the terminal has adopted initiatives on landside to continue servicing our clients and to maintain the fluidity in the terminal,” said the spokesman. “The terminal has held numerous engagements within the Transnet structures to look at the current fleet of equipment in the terminal. In addition, CTCT Engineering has embarked on a reliable strategy where an anti-sway mechanism is installed in the Rubber-Tyred Gantries (RTG) which will enable the RTGs to work in higher wind speeds, thereby cutting down on delays.
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Some exporters are being told by clients in the UK that they are going to rather import from Chile because there is certainty in delivery. – Terry Gale