Ships’ spares keep airfreight division busy

Turners Shipping has expanded its airfreight ships’ spares division. Operating from its recently opened office and on-site warehouse at the trade zone of Durban’s King Shaka Airport, branch manager for KwaZulu Natal, Neren Dyanand, told FTW: “The key to this sector of our business is co-ordinating the import and delivery of the goods with the ship’s arrival in port.” The goods can be anything from a new propeller to a bundle of mail for the crew. Most commonly it is engine parts which are needed for repairs, radar and electronic equipment. “We have to facilitate the import of the freight, store it in our bonded warehouse and then get it to the ship when it is in port,” he explained. This is not always as simple as it sounds. Ships may only be in port for a couple of hours to refuel and this may be at any time of the day or night, so the Turners Shipping office has a twenty four-hour, seven-daysa- week service. Recently members of staff at the Trade Port office worked around the clock over a two week period supplying 80 tonnes of freight to a research vessel that called in at Durban on its way from the Bahamas to India. “Our staff seldom left the office before two in the morning, ensuring the essential equipment was delivered to the ship,” said Dyanand. The Turners’ warehouse is linked to the airport’s cargo terminal by a sophisticated conveyor system that delivers freight directly to the warehouse. Over the next month or so the Turners airfreight staff will be handling the export and import of ships’ parts for a vessel that is due in Durban’s dry dock for major repairs. “Items that cannot be repaired locally have to be sent overseas for repair and then brought back. We facilitate the process which has to run smoothly without any delays,” he said.