Ports notch up record volumes

Terry Hutson
DESPITE ALL the problems of congestion and attendant distractions at the Durban container terminal (DCT), the port has continued to exceed expectations and break a few more records, while breakbulk and bulk volumes have only slightly dipped.
During the calendar year 2001 DCT handled a total of 1 223 601 TEUs compared with 1 125 232 the previous year - thatÕs an increase of 98 369 TEUs or 8,74%.
Other ports except for Port Elizabeth also notched up some impressive increases with Cape Town handling 471 112 (366 995), an impressive increase of 104 117 (+ 28,37%). East London revealed its growing status as a container port although possibly at the expense of its near neighbour Port Elizabeth by handling 60 180 TEUs, compared with 23 438 in 2001 (+ 156%). Port Elizabeth inexplicably achieved 156 883 TEUs which was a considerable drop from the 280 420 in 2001 - down 123 537 TEUs (- 44%) in one year!
The total volume of TEUs handled at all ports from January to December last year was 1,92 million, compared with 1,80m in 2000 - an increase of 6,22% which is on a par with the world norm for 2001.
Other statistics just made available show that Richards Bay remains the busiest port in terms of volumes at 90,8 million tons (91,5mt in 2000);
Durban was next with a total of 31,8mt (32,7mt); Saldanha with 26,4mt (23,5mt), Cape Town 7,8mt (7,6mt), Port Elizabeth 4,2mt (6,7mt), East London 1,4mt (0,6mt).
In total South African ports handled 162,5mt in 2001 compared with 162,7mt in 2000. These figures do not include oil and petroleum products at Durban (estimated about 20mt) and Saldanha.