Port of Durban congestion battle rages on

Despite what the industry
has described as slow but
positive progress in addressing
congestion at the Port of
Durban, the “catastrophic”
impact on the perishable
industry is upsetting the
entire supply chain right up
to farm level, Citrus Growers’
Association
of Southern
Africa logistics
development
manager
Mitchell Brooke,
told delegates
at last week’s
Transport Forum
in Durban.
Brooke said
it was highly
critical that
fruit was moved
through the
ports as fast as possible to
maintain the cold chain in
order to realise a good return
to producers. “Our industry
is under a lot of stress and we
are trying to make sure we get
efficiency through our supply
chain so our product can
receive the best value in the
market,” he said.
The Durban port handles
60% of South Africa’s fruit
exports – which is why the
industry completed a 2015/16
analytical case study of the
planning and performance
of the Durban
Container
Terminal.
And the
challenges are wide-ranging
– the growth rate of container
vessels calling, a decline in
productivity during the period
under analysis, and historical,
structural inefficiencies of the
terminal and road networks in
the Durban South Basin.
The number of vessels
calling dropped from 1610 in
2007 to 896 in 2016 and was
expected to decline further
to an estimated 850 in 2017.
“The average number of
containers on a container
vessel has increased from
1600 TEUs to 3100 so there
has been a doubling of the
number of containers
being moved on and off
vessels – and the
average size of
container
vessels
calling
Durban has gone from 26000
GRT to 56 000 GRT,” Brooke
said.
“The important thing to
consider is how this affects the
landside logistics when we have
bigger vessels coming in and
pushing in larger parcel sizes in
a shorter time frame – it must
congest the landside in some
respect,” he said.
Statistics showed that the
port was experiencing peaks of
busy periods with congestion
three days of the week and
troughs when there was no
activity, a problem that needed
to be dealt with to smooth work
flow at stacks over seven days,
he added.
Container volume in the
port declined from handling
of 2.77 million TEUs in 2015
to 2.63 million in 2016, which
was expected to flatline or even
decrease in 2017 according to
the study.
“It is interesting to note
that although there are less
containers there are still issues
surfacing around inefficiency,”
Brooke said.
Gate moves through Pier 2
had dropped from 2537 truck
moves per day with an average
turnaround time of 172 hours
in 2015 to an average of 2297
moves per day and a delay time
of 252 minutes in 2016.
Brooke also highlighted
the importance of assessing
the structure of DCT
and surrounding road
infrastructure – and port
management was engaging
with the eThekwini
Municipality transport
department to find solutions.
Kevin Martin, former
chairman of the Harbour
Carriers’ Association said
transporters had formed a
committee with Transnet Port
Terminals to facilitate the
launch of a new sustainable
truck booking system by year
end.
Transnet’s move to smart
port technology was having a
positive impact on operations
and Durban had the potential
to become “the Rotterdam” of
sub-Saharan Africa if it could
increase volumes and adopt a
similar lower cost model as the
Netherlands, he added.
Transnet National Ports
Authority senior operations
manager, Lwandile Mabuza,
suggested that a traffic
management system was
needed for the entire port to
make the booking system work
and that perhaps cargo owners,
rather than transporters,
should make bookings directly
with the port.
INSERT
Although there
are less containers
there are still issues
surfacing around
inefficiency.
– Mitchell Brooke