As Transnet’s newly appointed chief executive Portia Derby takes the reins, she faces an uphill battle to improve throughput at the Durban Container Terminal (DCT).“The problem at the DCT is not just about equipment,” DAL Agency managing director, David McCallum, t old F T W.“There are a myriad of different factors that need to be considered and a complete culture change needs to happen at Transnet.”Speaking to FTW days after the announcement of her appointment, McCallum said: “The DCT is a big mountain to climb and I hope that she is given support from all quarters and that there’s not too much political wrangling.”McCallum stressed that building morale would be imperative.“One of the biggest challenges is to get the mindset of the staff right. There has consistently been an issue in terms of bonuses and incentive bonuses, but hopefully she can get that sorted and get people pulling in the same direction.” Galvanising human resources and efficiencies would be crucial to turn the Port of Durban around after years of congestion and corruption-related delays to improvements, McCallum said.“Derby needs everybody to clearly understand what the objective and the goal is. My hope is that she can articulate her vision very clearly and that she can get all those parties to strive towards a common objective.”Dave Wat t s , the chairman of the South African Association of Freight For warders (Saaff ), said it was encouraging to see that a decision, based on employment equity, had been made to appoint a competent person to head up the state-owned company (SOC).“It is good to see that the glass ceiling is being broken, in our country at least.”He stressed however that considering that Transnet was the largest logistics company in South Africa if not the whole of Africa, “it is of some concern that the SOC’s board does not have a logistics specialist or leader from the logistics industry among its members”.Watts believes that a possible option to alleviate lag at the port is the establishment of an off-site Customs-licensed import terminal which would receive direct ex vessel all import containers. “This would answer yard capacity and access issues and a number of other concerns," he said.An “Informed Insights” column written by MSC’S operations director Ian Rosario and published in FTW Online, looks at possible solutions to the port’s long-standing congestion issues. Rosario says that regardless of what strategic decisions are made to ensure the Port of Durban re-establishes its status as a major gateway, the involvement of representatives of port users such as shipping lines, cargo owners, truckers, forwarders and the like, will be critical to success.It seems clear that if Derby paves the way for private sector assistance, she can count on collaborative attempts to restore harbour efficiencies in Durban.
INSERT: There are a myriad of different factors that need to be considered and a complete culture change needs to happen at Transnet.– David McCallum
