When the 9 178-TEU capacity containership, the MSC Chicago, sailed into Durban at the beginning of the month, she became the largest cargo vessel ever to call at the port, and proved the benefit of the recent deepening and widening of the port entrance channel and the harbour basin. But the sheer size of her declared container cargo – 6 707 TEUs, with 2 288 TEUs to be discharged and 4 419 TEUs to be loaded – raised shivers amongst container road transporters, who expressed doubts about the ability of Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) to handle such numbers in the three days’ “free” period at the container stacks in Durban. Fortunately, the worries proved to be unfounded, as the bulk of the 4 419 export boxes were transhipments – not needing to be brought into the port, as they were already stored there. This, said Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) CE Tau Morwe, proved the capacity of SA ports to cater for ships of this magnitude.
