Richards Bay upgrades forge ahead despite recession

Good news for Richards Bay
stakeholders is that Transnet
intends continuing with the
refurbishment of the dry bulk (DBT)
and multi purpose terminal (MPT)
despite the economic downturn
which is resulting in sharp drops in
terminal volumes.
This was revealed recently during
a series of countrywide roadshows
in which Transnet Port Terminals
(TPT) indicated its intention to
continue with existing projects
aimed at upgrading and improving
terminal capacity.
In the case of Richards Bay some
R800 million of refurbishment is
under way or planned, including
the maintenance of existing
infrastructure and equipment. Solly
Letsoalo, TPT’s chief operating
officer said that while Transnet
could only guess at how much
longer the downturn would last,
the organisation had nevertheless
made the decision to continue with
countrywide upgrades because it
understood the need to have spare
capacity for whenever the economy
started recovering.
He explained that at Richards Bay
this was despite some commodity
volumes having decreased by as
much as 30% since October 2008.
He said the resultant slump did offer
opportunities of taking equipment
out of service for necessary
maintenance and generally to
prepare for a recovery by improving
terminal capacities. But importantly
Letsoalo said the emphasis on
achieving this included recognising
the need to address issues of
productivity, while also introducing
a programme of maintenance and
refurbishment of older equipment.
TPT currently has the capacity to
handle 13 million tonnes of cargo at
Richards Bay MPT and DBT which
it intends increasing to 21mt without
having to expand either the port or
terminals.
TPT believes the two terminals
can in fact be extended beyond
21mt to handle up to 35mt annually
without any additional expansion.
Letsoalo said this could be
achieved by way of improving
productivity, installing new and
more efficient conveyor systems
and building additional concrete
slabs for the handling of dry bulk
commodities, while also dividing
the dry bulk berths into a system
of separate specialist import and
export facilities which would
encourage specialisation.
In addition certain low volume
dry bulk commodities will be
transferred to the MPT where there
is some spare capacity, allowing
DBT to focus on fewer high volume
commodities.
There is also an urgent need
to bring both terminals back into
profit, Letsoalo said. The main
focus on achieving this would be
through improved productivity,
increasing ship turnaround time with
generally improved loading rates
and through the introduction of a
programme of planned maintenance
which is aimed at reducing timeconsuming
mechanical breakdowns
on equipment. To help achieve
these targets TPT has appointed
teams to address each sector and
identify ways and means of bringing
about improvements.
In terms of equipment TPT has
six ship unloaders of which two are
new and the balance is undergoing
a programme of refurbishment.
Letsoalo said the cost of refurbishing
a ship unloader was approximately
30% that of buying a new machine.
Both terminals are also equipped
with a fleet of mobile canes
During the 2008/09 financial
year ended 31 March the port of
Richards Bay handled a total of
82.73 million tonnes of cargo. The larger share of this was export
coal, of which Richards Bay Coal
Terminal (RBCT) logged exports
of 61.79mt, which was down 6.6%
on the 66.16mt of the previous
year. In 2008 Transnet Freight Rail
delivered a total of 62.66mt of coal
to the terminal despite several delays
caused by derailments along the line.
RBCT says the intention remains
to ramp up exports to 76mt a year
with further extensions taking this
to 91mt a year . Mining analysts are
however sceptical about whether
these figures can be achieved in the
short term.
On the ship repair side there
is still no news of the proposed
dry dock and ship repair facility
that a local BEE company plans
to introduce with the backing of
Chinese interests. Transnet says it
has the matter under consideration
but a decision has remained pending
for several years and analysts are
again sceptical whether this project
will get off the ground in the
foreseeable future.