Reefer market outgrows Cape Town facilities

Industry and port seek joint solutions THE PORT at Cape Town is barely coping with current traffic levels, according to Peter Odendaal, operations manager at P&O Nedlloyd. “It’s working at close to capacity,” he said, “with the height of the seafreight perishable export season upon us. “This, and weather delays, have affected the container terminal, which is now congested, and ships are having to wait outside.” However, Odendaal added, the port authorities have an on-going programme to improve efficiency and are liaising with the shipping lines on the matter. “Part of this is new hardware they intend to put into the terminal - including additional cranes and straddle carriers.” According to Cape Town terminal manager, Ian Bouwer, SA Port Operations (Sapo) have a monthly meeting with the lines to look at productivity issues. “We are looking at it as an industry,” he told FTW. Last year, a lot of the congestion was due to the sheer volume of empty containers that were going through the terminal.,” said Bouwer. “But we’ve created an empty stack and got about 30% of these empties out of the terminal.” Sapo has also had a go-ahead for four new straddle carriers - all of the 4-high variety, he said. “We have a need for these in the reefer yard and the container stacks,” he added, “allowing us to stack that one level higher than with smaller straddle units.” The port is also looking at reefer plugs. “Although these have already been increased to 1 000 plug points, it’s still not enough. “This because the reefer (refrigerated container) market has grown phenomenally, and we expect it to go on doing so for the next couple of years.” Asked about the extra space intended to be added to the already overcrowded port at the old Eskom power station, Bouwer said that this expansion plan was still on the cards. “But,” he said, “it means that we have to transfer containers by road to this site and we’re looking at keeping the stacking areas as close to the ships as possible.” One plan at the moment is to possibly look at in-filling some 300 extra metres of area behind the terminal quays.