New R25-m terminal boosts EC reefer exports

Reefer exports out of the port of Ngqura have been given a boost with the opening of a R25-million APM Terminal, which is capable of turning around 130 containers a day. Catering for both dry and reefer containers, the terminal offers landside services such as repairs, handling, storage, monitoring and container conversion. Apart from these services, APM Terminals is also operating a trucking yard from its depot. “In today’s time of containerisation you need a strong landside operation or service levels will be affected and the cost of doing business will rise, paralysing our ability to compete on a global level,” Imtiaz Mahomed-Ally, APM Terminals chief operations officer and director said at the official opening at Coega. “Seeing the demand of the shipping lines and cargo owners, it was only appropriate to open a depot that services the industry and, most of all, reduces cost by giving quicker turn-around times, limiting road and depot congestion and operating within five kilometres of a port. In a move that is likely to shake up other terminal operators in the Nelson Mandela Metro, APM Terminals managing director Morten Jensen stressed in an interview with FTW that the terminal would service all shipping lines. CAPTION: APM Terminals’ new R25-m facility … capable of turning around 130 containers a day.