Permit glitch keeps trucks out of Durban terminal

14 Apr 2000 - By Staff reporter

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Private hauliers express
congestion concern

Alan Peat

THE FIRST year of open gates for road hauliers at the Durban harbour container terminal has been a resounding success, and seen some 25% of the container movement swing over to private sector carriers, according to Paul Rayner, managing director of DTB Cartage and chairman of the Durban harbour carriers' section of SAAFF (SA Association of Freight Forwarders).
Things seem to have gone very smoothly, he told FTW, apart from the terminal delays of the last three to four months.
The competitive element now being introduced to local delivery - previously a Portnet Cartage monopoly - has been to the benefit of importer customers, Rayner added.
They are getting their containers more quickly, he said, with carriers being able to offer almost a same-day service for urgent boxes.
This is a vast improvement on the wait-in-the-queue attitude previously adopted. Private sector carriers monitor the urgency of deliveries, and schedule to meet this demand.
The only short-term hitch has resulted from this month being permit renewal time. Portnet failed to notify the carriers of the need for this renewal, said Rayner, and some trucks were refused entry at the beginning of the month because they had failed to comply.
Portnet will need to get its communications channels sorted out before the next renewal is due.
Despite the Durban carriers' enthusiasm for open gates, the fear of congestion at the terminal itself still remains a big worry.
There are no contingency plans at the terminal for the peak times of the year, said Rayner, so you have to worry about the flow of containers from the terminal at the busy times.
The main problem, he added, was Portnet's limited budget for new handling machinery. They just have no back-up equipment to cover any breakdowns in their container handling fleet, he said.
But the open gates policy itself is a definite winner, Rayner concluded.