July deadline set for new CT berths

Construction at the Cape Town Container Terminal (CTCT) – where two more berths will be opened – is ahead of schedule, according to terminal manager Brenda Magqwaka. “The berths are set to be operational by no later than July next year,” she said. “Not only are we ahead of schedule but the construction has also progressed without any incidents to mar our safety record.” The Container Terminal expansion project will see the addition of two water side berths of 1.37 metres in length with a draught of 15.5 metres, bringing the total number of berths to four. This, says Magqwaka, will suffice for the next seven years. “These berths will enable us to handle new generation vessels of up to 338m. Along with our new equipment we believe we will be able to perform exceedingly well over the next few years – be it in the handling of containerised cargo, reefers, empties or transhipments.” Currently some 412 metres of the quay is under construction as berths 603 and 604 are constructed. The port, which has managed to surpass its set targets for the past three financial years and has also been the regional winner in the public sector category in the SA Productivity awards, is one of the few that did not focus high on the Transnet Market Demand Strategy that will see the parastatal spend R300 billion over its various entities. “Much of the money allocated to us in the MDS is being spent in the upgrading of our berths and the construction of the two new berths,” said Magqwaka. “We believe this is adequate for our needs and capacity at present as well as for the volumes we are targeting.” The port will see four more rubber tyre gantries (RTG) purchased, bringing its total to 32, while two more waterside cranes are set to be delivered next year making a total of six. “We currently have a capacity of around 900 000 TEUs of which only about 720 000 is utilised annually,” said Magqwaka. “Through the upgrade and the purchasing of new equipment we will be able to extend our capacity to 1.4 million TEUs by 2019.” She said while the terminal did not see itself handling that many TEUs in the near future, it had proved its worth, having constantly improved performance over the past four years. “Our gantry crane moves per hour have increased from 22 in 2008 to the current 29, while our ship working hour moves have also improved drastically. In 2008 it was measured at 37.5 moves per hour. It is now at around 56.6, exceeding the target of 48 that had been set.” Magqwaka said the average truck turnaround time within the terminal had also improved to 31.8 minutes. “We consider anything more than 35 minutes to be inefficient and are therefore very proud of what we have achieved. It really shows that we are improving on efficiency all the time.” CAPTION Brenda Magqwaka ... ‘ship working hour moves have improved drastically.’