Sapo commits R7 million to MPT quayside refurbishment

Cost-cutting initiatives help weather negative factors RAY SMUTS WHEN THE chips are down, the challenges are up. And so it has been with South African Port Operations’ Cape Town multi-purpose terminal which has had to resort to extraordinary measures, fully cognisant of the fact that the customer reigns as king. The terminal provides handling services to diverse markets but focuses in the main on the Western Cape’s bulk agricultural, fruit, cement and steel sectors and a container combi operation. Acting business unit manager Earle Peters says MPT has, in the light of increasing marine fuel costs, “sky rocketing” break bulk freight hikes and the effects of exchange rates, had to weather a barrage of negative factors affecting its main trading partners in order to remain profitable. “This has been achieved inter alia through improved service rendering, cost-cutting initiatives, more aggressive competitive response approaches to our strategic markets and most important, an integrated customer communications plan to bring us closer together.” Seen from a volume perspective, the MPT handled 805 072 metric tons (27 759 TEUs) between April and October 2003 and 671 202 metric tons ( 27 777 TEUs) during the corresponding period this year. Despite the tonnage downswing during this period, Peters is confident volumes will increase, specifically in the fruit and steel markets. Looking to the future, Sapo is investing more than R7 million in MPT quayside refurbishment and enhancement, a project scheduled for completion by February 2005, on top of which capital is being sought for additional areas identified for refurbishment. Plans are also afoot to examine the upgrading of quayside shed facilities to increase capacity of landing bulk cargo to ground rather than directly to rail or road. This is aimed primarily at the “incredible advantages” of vessel turnaround performance. Petersen says provision has been made for replacing fork trucks, tractors and other strategic operating equipment during the 2005/6 financial year. The intention is also to have in place next year a fleet of six straddle carriers to increase container handling capacity over and above the existing fleet of reach stackers. Encouraging, too, is that average handling norms at MPT have increased steadily over the past year - 49 gross tons per crane hour between April and October 2003 to 57 gross tons per crane hour for the corresponding period this year. Sapo’s strategic focus continues to fall on customer service management and the ability to form strategic partnerships for the benefit of both customers and shareholder.