Sapo does its best and pleads for accurate forecasts

Alan Peat THERE IS no denying that ship delays at the port of Durban are reaching a worrying level according to SA Port Operations (Sapo) Ð but there is little that they can do with only eight berths at the container terminal for the time being, says spokesperson Linda Muller. "If we get eight, nine or ten vessels arriving in one day," she said, "then obviously there are delays." At the time of speaking, for example, the port statistics showed that there were eight vessels on the berths, 12 outside the port, and three due the following day and nine on the following Sunday. "It's all part of the pre-Christmas rush," said Muller. "But we're doing almost 3 000 containers a day at the terminal, and we have the capacity to handle this. "So stacking is no problem, but berthing availability definitely is." But port customers also need to be accurate in forecasting their arrival timing, Muller added. "Most vessels on our list are outside their ETA (estimated time of arrival)," she said. "This obviously has an effect on our planning." Sapo, however, is doing its best to cope with the limited capacity it currently has available. One partial remedy, according to Muller, has been allowing ships with their own gear to use the combi-terminal for container handling. "We've also just injected 18 brand new straddle carriers," she said, "with more due over the next few months. Straddle breakdowns are also now a thing of the past." It's possibly a different story with the gantry cranes, she added, where breakdowns do still occur. "But we've got three new cranes on order," said Muller. "However these are only due to be delivered about 16 months from now." The overall message from Sapo is that they are trying their best within the confines of limited capacity. A problem that unfortunately remains until the new port expansion programme is due to be completed in about two years time.