'New haulers fail to ramp up efficiency'

The Port of Durban’s rollon, roll-off (ro-ro) terminal at the Point and the Maydon Wharf terminal – being used as alternatives to the temporarily disabled berth at the Pier 2 terminal – are fast being rigged out with new mobile cranes and a new fleet of haulers. Zeph Ndlovu, Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) executive manager for the two terminals, said: “This equipment facilitates quicker turnaround times of ships and thus reduces logistics costs for our valued customers and for the industry.” But terminal users are not confident that this is the case. Speaking on behalf of the members of the TPT/ Transporters’ Forum, Carl Webb, MD of Project Logistics Management, told FTW that equipment was not the problem. “It’s not a matter of how well the equipment runs, it is how well the equipment is run,” he said. The inefficiency at the ro-ro terminal – where it should take about an hour to load a truck, but was actually taking up to half a day – was more due to mismanagement than lack of equipment, he added. Indeed, a whole meeting of the forum on Wednesday (October 31) was held to raise all the problems at the Point highlighted by the port users. “It’s a battle we’ve been fighting for some considerable time,” said Webb, “but we are still no closer to achieving a solution.” However Ndlovu insisted that the haulers were replacing old equipment in the ro-ro terminal and would result in increased productivity and more efficient operation. He suggested that the equipment would also enable faster and safer transportation of cargo and improve safety on the quayside and on the ro-ro ramp. The 27 FR230 (4x2) and FR270 (4x4) haulers that arrived during August to October are part of a fleet of 33 ordered from manufacturer, CVS Ferrari in Italy, and valued at R52 million. The last batch of six haulers is scheduled to arrive later this month. The equipment is primarily used for hauling cargo, both on the landside and on ro-ro vessels. Twenty five of the haulers are used in ro-ro operations and eight in the breakbulk and agri-bulk operations. The haulers work alongside four new Liebherr LHM550C mobile harbour cranes that the terminal acquired earlier this year, with two more scheduled to arrive, one this month and the other in February 2013. The mobile cranes have a lifting capacity of 144 tons, a standard load operation of 77 t and a spreader load operation of 63 t – and enable TPT to handle 18 container rows across deck through a 54-metre boom. This is all part of a R438-m programme to boost container handling capacity at the ro-ro and Maydon Wharf Terminals – which have mainly handled breakbulk and ro-ro cargo up to now. CAPTION Zeph Ndlovu … ‘New equipment will increase productivity.’