Heavy duty hauliers have been up in arms over delays as a result of the Port of Durban's floating crane Indlovu being out of service for the past month.
During this time they claim Portnet left them to make their own arrangements for any heavy lifting necessary at the port, and as a result one national exporter is facing a bill for more than R100 000 incurred through resultant delays and the cost of hiring a private crane.
Captain Rijk van der Kroll, Portnet's executive manager for Marine Services confirmed that the crane, which has a lifting capacity of 200 tons, had been out of commission. He said that an inspection to comply with Department of Transport (DoT) regulations had revealed a large crack along one of the support columns, necessitating urgent repairs.
According to Van der Kroll Portnet's clients were advised of the problem. When a crane is taken out for repairs we advise clients either to use Cape Town or to hold back shipments if possible, otherwise they must make use of private cranes, he told FTW. It is also possible for the new container cranes to lift up to 60 tons and these can do a lot of this work when required. Most work entails loads of between 10 and 60 tons and we also have available the smaller floating crane Imvubu which has a 60 ton capacity. He confirmed that Indlovu had now re-entered service in Durban. Where before we could on occasion exceed the load by 25% and accept lifts up to 250 tons, Portnet now falls under the DoT regulations and has to comply with their regulations, he said. Since the repair we performed a test load of 265 tons and as a result we're now allowed to handle loads of up to 235 tons maximum. Portnet has since advised clients they will be re-locating a heavy-duty mobile crane from Richards Bay to Durban to help out in any future emergencies.
By Terry Hutson
