They bend the rules, and then blame Portnet
PRODUCTIVITY, OR rather the lack of it, is one of the most severe indictments against Portnet Cape Town and port services manager Malcolm Green is determined to rectify the perception. I do not want a bunch of 'ja-broers' (those who agree with everything) with me but people who can think for themselves, who can comprehend strategy and work out what needs to be done in the interests of the customer and then do it rather than just talk about it.
Much of the criticism for low productivity has been levelled by shipping lines and other customers at the container terminal which Green contends is not always fully justified.
It depends on who you talk to, he asserts, reaching for an e-mail from Safmarine operations which indicates that per hour container crane moves ranged between 15,2 and 20,9 the previous week.
He questions why a company like Safmarine can achieve up to 29 moves per crane hour while other vociferous critics of the port's slow vessel turnaround time, can only manage 22.
The reason is that they fiddle with their after-stack arrangements while companies like Safmarine accept there is a stack closing time.
Green believes port authority under his leadership will need to organise itself. Where we don't have reporting lines we should establish what we call service level agreements which will commit operations, terminals, business units and departments to performing against certain strategic requirements, against certain ethics and against certain productivity levels.
For now, it's several weeks of olives, octopus and ouzo under the Greek sun for Green, but when he returns to his 9th floor waterside eyrie boasting some of the best views of the harbour and the Mother City the focus will be on getting Portnet people to understand exactly what is required of them.
Only when that point has been reached can you fire the starter's gun and say 'the race is on'.
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