Terminals set productivity goals at 25 moves per hour

TERMINAL PRODUCTIVITY at the port of Cape Town is on the up and up, according to TPT business unit manager Oscar Borchards. It’s slightly down from 23.5 moves per crane per hour in October to the current 22.5. “We have to up the game, become more efficient, so 25 moves per crane per hour by March next year is what all container terminals are aiming at,” says Borchards. This, he says, is regarded globally as the “first level” of efficiency, the next, 30 moves per crane per hour, which Cape Town container terminal hopes to achieve by 2010, once the eight new Liebherr super postpanamax cranes, costing around R60 million each, are in place. Last year, the terminal took delivery of 30 spanking new straddle carrier fleet for an outlay of R50 million but these are to be progressively ‘retired’ from Cape Town and moved to the ports of Durban and Port Elizabeth once rubber tyre gantries are in operation by early 2009. The RTG supplier has yet to be announced but Kalmar has long been a Transnet favourite. Boasting the largest number of reefer plug points of any container terminal at 2 250, Borchards believes this will suffice for now – certainly no industry complaints have been received, but the intention is to increase to 3 000 by next year and to 5 000 by 2010.