Mandatory truck booking system at a standstill

Plans to make the truck booking system at the Port of Durban mandatory appear to have lost momentum. In May last year Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) CEO Nosipho Sithole told FTW that her goal was to make the voluntary system compulsory by April 2019. It appears, however, that little progress has been made. “We drew a line in the sand and said don’t mention the word compulsory,” said Freightliner MD Kevin Martin, who was part of a committee involved in discussions regarding the system. “The biggest user of the booking system happens to be my company and yet I’m the biggest critic. You must have the right foundation stones in place for it to work – 24/7 depots because where does a transporter go and drop off and pick up an empty after
hours, and you must have the workload spread through your terminal. Once that’s in place you will get better buy-in for the system.” In theory, said Martin, it was a great idea. “But we’re in a peaks and valleys world and
you have to work with that.” Alex Hill of the SA Association of Ship Operators and Agents (Saasoa) was equally blunt about the lack of progress.  “There’s been no movement at all,” he told FTW. He agrees that it’s
theoretically a workable solution but that practically it’s a non-starter. “The productivity levels at the port are so abysmal that even if trucks were booked chances are that bookings would not be worth the paper they’re written on.”
According to Hill, a work group was formed last year. “We went a long way to getting buy-in from shipping lines and forwarding agents – and even theoretically from depots to  stay open 24/7. The ball was then put back in Transnet’s court because they have to change the rules of working in the port, the port tariffs, and the costs that are built into the port tariff.” But one year on there has been no progress. Sithole set a target last year of 80% of truck arrivals using the system. She said at the  time that they were achieving 45% utilisation. The idea, she said, was to introduce a reward and penalty system “so that if you book more slots than required we can then discourage that type of behaviour”. FTW was awaiting comment from Transnet when this issue went to print.