Transnet inefficiency costing billions

Full-scale warfare is taking place in Durban over the inefficiency of Transnet at the port – a failure which has been calculated to cost the freight industry a sum creeping up towards a billion rand a year. And that is purely delays affecting the road transport movements of containers in and out of the Pier 1 and 2 terminals. And this, according to the Durban Harbour Carriers’ Association (DHCA), has pushed the port users’ bodies into talks of a class action – a move that would involve truckers, forwarders and shippers in a legal fight to the death with Transnet. The problem has been getting worse in recent times, according to the trucker body, and has got to the stage where it is now taking two trucks to do the job that one could have handled just a couple of years back. At meetings last week with a team led by Zeph Ndlovu, senior GM terminals for Transnet Port Terminals (TPT), an agreement was reached that TPT would chase an average 90 minutes vehicle turnaround time for two weeks. To allow for bad times, TPT was allowed a 240-minute average for two days. But the first day had already broken the mark, FTW was told – with Pier 2 taking 249 minutes' average for 2 722 gate moves. “And these were quite achievable figures,” said DHCA chairman, Kevin Martin. To prove its case, the association compiled a calculation that came up with figures showing the cost of delays to the SA logistic chain. As a basis for the calculation a number of assumptions were made: • That every 1 kilometre of road (double lane) will hold 100 road vehicles; • That the minimum cost per vehicle is R300 per hour; and • That the weeks worked are 52 @ average of 6 working days = 312 working days. • That Pier 1 averages 1 200 moves; Pier 2 avg 2 500 moves; Maydon Wharf avg 150 moves; and Point avg 150 moves = 4 000 gate moves per working day. • That the average delay per vehicle lost per 24 hours = 2 hours (excluding shift change times). So, given these, road transport loses a minimum of: 312 working days x 4000 gate moves x 2 hours = 2 496 000 hours per annum. And that all works out at a stunning cost to the economy (at R300 per hour per vehicle) of R748 800 000 a year. Other calculations derived from this primary formula show that the cost of one kilometre of trucks is R30 000 per hour over 21 hours (per 24 cycle) = R630 000 per day That ‘A Check’ (the entry point for the terminal on Pier 2) holds nearly 380 trucks – or 380 x R300 x 21 hours (on a bad day) = R2 394 000. That Piers 1 & 2 can hold 10 kilometres + 380 trucks, or 1 380 trucks x R300 x 21 hours (on a very bad day) = R414 000 per hour or R8 694 000 per day. The DHCA was adamant that, with Transnet concentrating on its vessel client without a balance in planning on the landside (for which they do not pay), SA as a nation is becoming congested, wasting enormous costs in the logistics chain and losing cargoes to our northern neighbours. “We have in the last two weeks seen the on-going pattern of bad vessel stack planning, with little or no distribution over the terminal facility, impacting on the road side ability to perform and stay solvent,” Martin said. “We have over many years suggested remedies that are both cost-effective for all parties and relatively simple to implement – to no avail. “This cannot be allowed to continue and we cannot continue to hold meetings that become ‘talk shops’. I believe we have the goodwill from all parties – but what is required is action and intent.”