SAPO redeploys managers to prevent congestion

Terry Hutson SOUTH AFRICAN Port Operations (SAPO) is introducing a number of measures aimed at forestalling congestion at the container terminals in Durban and Cape Town ahead of the expected build-up from mid-year. The first of these is the redeployment of general managers from head office in Durban to the individual ports, where they will be able to develop hands-on relationships with their respective ports. First to be redeployed is Nad Govender, who moves to Cape Town as general manager, operations for Cape Town and Saldanha. At the time of going to press (Monday, June 3) the names of the three other GMs for the ports of Richards Bay, Durban and East London/Port Elizabeth were still to be announced. Tau Morwe told FTW last week that in addition to his position as CEO he was also assuming a new more hands-on role as Chief Operations Officer (COO), with the four operational general managers reporting directly to him. "It became clear to us that some of our operational problems were because of a lack of clear focus within the ports. It was difficult for a general manager based in Durban, with responsibilities across several ports, to have a hands-on intimate knowledge of all the terminal activities. The new structure will create a more specialised control, leaving the responsibility of GMs solely linked to their allocated port," said Morwe. In another step to avoid To page 16 From page 1 congestion in Durban, vessels with small numbers of containers will be redirected to other areas of the port such as the multi purpose terminal on Pier 1, leaving the container terminal to handle vessels with larger volumes. In other instances container lines that qualify, and whose ships are normally scheduled to call at Port Elizabeth ahead of Durban, will be encouraged to discharge Gauteng-based cargo at Port Elizabeth. This will then be railed at equalised rates to City Deep. Morwe said that a framework for communications had to be established before further information on the concessioning process could be divulged. This was because of sensitivities around the labour issue, but once this had been established further details would be forthcoming. The minister for public enterprises, Jeff Radebe announced last month that the Durban Container Terminal would be available for concessioning from early 2003.