TPT and customers iron out ro-ro booking problems

The new open booking system at the Port of Durban’s roll-on, roll-off (ro-ro) terminal – the landing spot for most of the heavy vehicle and equipment imports – got under way at the start of last week. It had the usual few teething problems, according to Carl Webb, MD of Project Logistics Management (PLM), SA Association of Freight Forwarders (Saaff) representative for the multi-purpose terminal (MPT) and representative for the Road Freight Association (RFA) abnormal loads committee. “But,” he told FTW, “it will very quickly highlight all the problem areas at the terminal, and, along with Transnet Port Terminals (TPT), we will be able to work on correcting these collectively. “As long as we address them urgently, it will help to sort everything out.” The move to the new system followed the previous fixed-time booking system, which had led to serious complaints from the terminal users about its failure to meet the transport schedules laid down for the uplift of their cargoes. So bad did it become that road transporters – many of whom were allocating abnormal vehicles to meet the transport needs – began to pull their vehicles out of the terminal rather than waiting for some activity from TPT, leaving the consultants who had organised the contracts stranded. It eventually led to threats of a complete boycott of the ro-ro terminal. However, although it took some months of bitter words between the terminal users and TPT, it did eventually mark another high spot in the relationship between the two parties in the dispute, according to Webb. “We had spent some frustrating months trying to get TPT to listen to our complaints and recommendations on how to solve them,” he added. “Our basic suggestion was the open booking system. “And, eventually, after a TPT management team got together on the issue, they began to listen to us. The end result is that we’ve now got a good line of communication going with TPT, allowing us to do everything possible to help them sort out the problems.”