Terry Hutson THE PORT of Richards Bay Multi Purpose Terminal (MPT) has taken delivery of six urgently needed haulers, which it hopes will lead to improvements in productivity at the terminal. Another four haulers are due to arrive during September and October and will be used, among other things, for the towing of ferro bins to help improve the loading rate at MPT. The leasing of the ten haulers is part of a short-term intervention at the loading bay, says Justice Luthuli, SA Port Operations’ MPT business unit manager, who said a start had been made on sourcing the haulers three months ago. Sourcing these machines could normally take between six and twelve months to complete. The MPT was plunged into crisis recently following ongoing labour unrest, costing shipping and export industries thousands of dollars a day through stoppages. The image of the port was severely damaged. On that occasion riot police had to be called in, but not before masters of ships were forced to raise their gangways to protect their vessels and crew. With strong concern being expressed over the security of the port, several lines said they would go to other ports in future. Luthuli said the terminal had moved away from relying on casual labour and was increasing its permanent complement of employees. “In the longer term we are collating an investment master-plan for the terminal. We have already received support from Transnet and we have employed a chief operations manager to focus on operations processes and we are strengthening our supervisory structures.”
