Ship turnaround times
increased by 8% in Cape
Town and 4% in Ngqura,
compared to 2016, while
Port Elizabeth (-8%),
East London (-24%) and
Richard’s Bay (-18%)
improved turnaround times
significantly.
This is according to
Transnet, which presented
its financial year-end results
– which saw revenue increase
by 5.3% to R65.5bn – for the
year ended 31 March 2017
in Johannesburg on Monday
morning (July 3).
Train turnaround times
meanwhile rose 32% at
Durban Pier 2, while
container moves dropped
15% at Durban Pier 1 and
12% at Durban Pier 2.
Despite this, Siyabonga
Gama, Transnet Group chief
executive, said Transnet
had made a number of
performance improvements
during the financial year.
He said the state-owned
company had issues with
the maintenance of straddle
carriers.
“We are refurbishing those
and are beginning to make
sure we do straddle pulling,
especially at the Durban
North quay to improve the
usage of this equipment. We
are upskilling our people and
retraining operators so that
we can maintain and exceed
world-class port norms in
terms of crane moves per
hour.”
Transnet’s export iron ore
line decreased to 57.2 million
tonnes from 58 million
tonnes the year earlier.
“We have improved
locomotive supply and
deployment on the coal line.
We’re very happy that on-time
arrivals improved by 142%,
and on-time departures
improved by 7.8%.”
Transnet’s general freight
volumes improved to 88.1
million tonnes, up 4.9%.
“This begins to indicate
that despite GDP growth of
0.7%, the road to rail strategy
is working,” said Gama.
“Despite market conditions,
we have had some very
good uptake in terms of the
general freight, automotive
and container sectors.”
Transnet Group CEO, Siyabonga Gama.
