New Belcon terminal creates inland hub

Transnet Freight Rail has launched a new terminal in the Western Cape – Belcon Terminal – designed to act as an inland nucleus hub, serving as an extension of the Port of Cape Town for consolidation of containers on rail. “Belcon allows exporters to have their containers closer to the port of loading ensuring that there is minimal possibility of short shipments. Imports are simply an inverse of this process as TFR provides bi-directional rail traffic flow of block loads between the Port of Cape Town and Belcon,” TFR spokesman Sandile Simelane told FTW. The 70 000m2 facility caters for the predominantly agriculturebased Cape market, offering port stack dates that are advertised for Belcon, storage, cleaning and light repairs to damaged containers, monitoring of reefer temperatures and pre-trip inspection. Through road and rail collaboration, road transporters can deliver and collect containers directly from Belcon. “This allows for truckers to increase the number of loads per truck per day, as they no longer have to be delayed in traffic congestion and stand in long queues at the port and other service points in the logistics chain. “Containers are shuttled from Belcon to the port (30km) at set times that coincide with the port’s off-peak hours. This allows for trains to be offloaded and reloaded during the dead shift, spreading the landside workload evenly over a 24-hour period,” Simelane said.