Hybrid booking system fails to address delays at MPT

The hybrid booking procedure for transporters using the Durban roll-on roll-off (roro) terminal at the Point has achieved its aim, but this still doesn’t make the truckers using the terminal happy. The idea behind the booking system was to get rid of the delays for truckers who were having to queue up at the gates waiting for their turn to get into the terminal. But this has now been overcome, according to Zeph Ndlovu, executive manager for the Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) multi-purpose terminals at the Port of Durban. “Now when they come they’re expected and they can instantly enter the terminal,” he told FTW. And this couldn’t have been achieved without the collaboration of the trucking companies, he added. “If we work together we’re able to achieve what’s needed. “We’ve seen some fantastic results, and we’re currently looking at making it even better.” In this respect, the truckers are delighted. “It’s gone very well,” said Carl Webb, MD of Project Logistics Management, and representative of the Road Freight Association (RFA) and the SA Association of Freight Forwarders (Saaff) at these transport forum meetings. “And the booking system certainly works.” But at the multi-purpose terminals there is a problem, and it’s exactly the opposite of the one at the container terminals, he told FTW. “At the DCT (Durban Container Terminal),” he said, “you have to queue up for ages until you get to the gate. But once there, you go through the terminal in minutes. “But at the Point ro-ro terminal you get through the gate right away, but then have to wait an age till you get through the terminal.” The problem, he added, is an ‘on-going one’ at this terminal – a shortage of handling equipment, particularly for containerised cargoes. “In typical TPT fashion,” Webb said, “they have upgraded the ocean-side of things with brand-new mobile cranes for ship loading/ unloading, but not the landside. As usual, this stems from the historic TPT conviction that the shipping lines are their customers, when in fact it’s the cargo owners.” At the Maydon Wharf multi-purpose terminal it’s just as bad, according to Webb. “They’ve got another new mobile crane due there,” he said, “but once again, it’s the ocean-side they’re concentrating on.”