All nine segments of data measured across South Africa’s freight industry have tracked "in the green" of the Cargo Movement Update (CMU) – an historic first for the weekly report by the South African Association of Freight Forwarders (Saaff) and Business Unity SA.
“It signals broad-based improvement across the logistics network and renewed momentum in port performance,” says Saaff’s head of Research and Development, Dr Jacob van Rensburg.
He adds, “Container volumes rose by 18% (month-on-month) and 10% year-on-year.”
Bulk cargo and vehicle throughput figures are even higher, respectively measured at increases of 26% and 57%, “setting new post-pandemic and all-time records”, Van Rensburg says.
“The rebound reflects deliberate interventions” by Transnet.
Van Rensburg highlights that these are “the roll-out of new equipment” by the state-owned logistics utility, “better hinterland-terminal-waterside alignment, and enhanced stakeholder collaboration”.
It marks “a decisive shift toward reliability, competitiveness and a re-energised logistics network”.
The nine sectors measured by the CMU found that they increased for the week ending October 12 as follows: domestic air cargo (1%), international air cargo (4%), vehicles (28%), breakbulk (16%), liquid bulk (11%), dry bulk (8%), containers (10%), rail freight on the Container Corridor linking the Port of Durban with Gauteng (24%), and land transport (1%).
The port and freight parastatal has since issued a statement, saying: “Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) continues to set new performance milestones, with the past week seeing South Africa’s largest terminal operator handle 100 158 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in a single week and 27 879 fully built units (FBU) across automotives.”
Notable improvement was specifically seen at the Ngqura Container Terminal where daily moves increased by 60%, recording 2 760 moves in one day.
According to TPT chief executive Jabu Mdaki: “TPT has broken 14 performance records in the last six months across loading rates; daily, weekly and annual container and automotive volumes; as well as train turnaround times.
“Some of the milestones were last seen 10 years ago, including exceeding the 100 000 TEU mark in a single week – which TPT has already achieved three times in the current financial year. The operator has also managed to close shortfall gaps in some commodities, including magnetite and containers.”
Referring to the latest data sets as TPT’s “defining moment of excellence”, Mdaki says: “Improved performance can be traced throughout the 16 terminals nationally and the four sectors that the business operates in, namely containers, bulk, breakbulk and automotive.”
He points out that the results are attributed to four main initiatives:
- Injection of new equipment including the nine rubber-tyred gantry cranes for Durban Container Terminal (DCT) Pier 1 and another nine for the Cape Town Container Terminal, 20 straddle carriers for the DCT Pier 2, a ship-to-shore crane for the Port Elizabeth Container Terminal, and over 200 haulers and trailers for all container terminals.
- Focused maintenance which resulted in reduced breakdowns and increased up-time of equipment.
- Process improvements.
Various people management initiatives including the introduction of a fourth shift to ensure employee wellbeing for improved performance – and a new incentive scheme.
Source: Saaff/Busa
