Infrastructure overhaul should push up productivity by 30%

‘Days of operating antiquated equipment are over’
RAY SMUTS
SOME MAY scoff at Oscar Borchards’ sense of optimism but the business unit manager at Cape Town container terminal is confident productivity will be up 30% and ship turnarounds markedly improved once all the new equipment earmarked for the Mother City terminal is operational by the end of 2008. It’s all part of Sapo’s R1 billion spending spree on new equipment. While Durban, which handles 65% of South Africa’s container traffic, gets the biggest share, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town have not been neglected. The days of operating antiquated equipment, such as Cape Town’s four Demag cranes which went into operation in 1977 - about the same time containerisation came to this country - are thus numbered. “Sapo has adopted a total equipment replacement programme to avoid ever again having to get to the stage of running equipment into the ground,” explains Borchards. Cape Town has been allocated six of 14 super post-Panamax Liebherr cranes (total cost: R430 million) and 26 Kalmar straddle carriers (total cost: R120 million). The first two Liebherrs, manufactured in Ireland, will be in place in August/September 2007, to be followed by the remaining four at six-monthly intervals, which means all should be in commission by the end of 2008. “The plan is not to say goodbye to the existing cranes. The first two new cranes will give us a total of eight. “When the second batch arrives we will take out two of the Demags and then the remaining two when the last of the new cranes is up and running. “That will then give the terminal six Liebherrs with lifting capacity of 70 tons and two Noel cranes with capacity of 45 tons.” Enthusing about the Liebherr equipment, Borchards says: “The beauty about them is that not only can they probably operate in wind speeds of 100km/h (unlike the cranes now in use which must stop at 80km/h for reasons of safety) but they come with two spreads - unlike any of the existing cranes - which enables them to lift two boxes at the same time.” Borchards sees no reason why the terminal should not be doing 30 moves per crane hour (FTW February 3, 2006). He says even though the terminal is currently achieving around 18 moves per crane per hour, “that can jump tremendously and we can all see levels of 25-plus.” The terminal’s existing straddle carrier tally is 27, to be shared among other businesses, which will take the new fleet to 30 after the arrival of the 26 new four-high straddles. (Four new Kalmars were delivered last year). “Container terminal berth utilisation is up from 55% in November to above 60% and when that happens you either have to expand or build capacity in terms of new equipment and stack space,” says Borchards. Which brings us to the long-overdue Record of Decision by the minister of Environmental and Energy Affairs, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, on the 300-metre extension of the Cape Town container terminal designed to increase TEU capacity from the current 700 000 per annum to around 1.6 million. Like Cape Town port manager, Sanjay Govan, Borchards believes the issue has reached a stage where a ruling should be forthcoming as soon as possible. “We have stated our case and are confident we have addressed the concerns of the appellant. (The Woodbridge Island body corporate, representing an upmarket housing development right alongside the beach and close to the terminal). More positive news is that the terminal is now totally free of empty containers, having been allocated a permanent stack alongside the so-called Blue Store (once accommodating the now-defunct porthole containers). Another new development is the deployment of berth 600 for derrick operations to service smaller vessels. Due to the size and length of many of the new vessels, Safmarine Nokwande and Lars Maersk for example, the terminal will be confined to four berths. Borchards agrees wind and consequent disruption to shipping schedules will remain a problem but says a partial solution has been found by moving the smaller container ships to the less windy E and F berths at the multi-purpose terminal and the deployment of berth 600.