Truck booking system proposes fines for no-shows

Transnet Port Terminals has
proposed a mandatory new
truck appointment system
and 24-hour help desk
for the Durban Container
Terminal that it hopes will
ease ongoing congestion -
but local transporters have
criticised the move saying the
problem of staff and equipment
inefficiencies must be fixed
first.
TPT regional manager Thula
Dlamini outlined the new
booking system at a stakeholder
meeting at the port on Friday
saying the current problem was
that truck transactions were
not spread evenly over a sevenday
week.
“This results in some days
of the week being more highly
pressurised than others. The
consequence of the pressurised
days is long truck turnaround
times,” Dlamini said.
“We want to achieve a
35-minute truck turnaround
time at the gate and that is gate
in and gate out. We want to
achieve zero percent staging
time. We need to listen to the
voice of the customer which is
trucking companies,” he said.
A pilot of the new booking
system is set to go live on
April 1 at Pier 2, while
computer systems are still
under development for
implementation at Pier 1.
According to an analysis of
transactions over the period
January 2016 to February 2017
the most frequent number
of trucks handled on a day
through the gate at Pier 2 was
1500 vehicles which occurred
on 51 days. The most frequent
number of containers processed
through the gate in one day was
2600 containers on 73 days.
“We also had to study the
volumes we handled on a
particular day of a week. On
certain days of the week we see
a peak and on certain days we
see very low volumes. Thursday
is the highest volume of the
week to the point where traffic
is overflowing onto Bayhead
Road; that is the peak where
our resources are stretched,”
he said.
According to the analysis, he
said the lowest volume of 1500
vehicles and 2000 containers
was processed on a Sunday,
while on a Thursday 1500
trucks and 2500 containers
were processed.
“Our intention is never to
frustrate trade. The biggest
concern with the system is
that someone could book a
number of slots and then not
pitch and our resources then
stand because we are waiting
for 150 containers. The team
has decided that the staging
area will no longer be used as a
time staging facility – we will
rather use it as a parking lot
for arriving trucks. If we have
a no-show we can take an early
arrival and push them into that
no-show slot, and the same
with late arrivals,” he said.
However, Dlamini said
under the proposed system
there would be “severe
penalties” in line with existing
penalties for recurring “no
shows” or non-compliance. He
said transporters could make
bookings via the Navis system
or by calling a new 24-hour
help desk to make special
arrangements.
“If you foresee that you are
not going to use the booking,
cancel it so someone else
can use it. We don’t want to
make this a revenue stream
for Transnet but we want to
encourage compliance,” he
said.
Dlamini said previously
there had been limited science
in the allocation of internal
port equipment but under
the proposal there would be
forward-planned distribution
of tower
resources.
“Thirty
percent of
the slots will
be allocated
to reefers for
export and the
rest to general
purpose
cargo (35%
for exports
and 35% for
imports),”
Dlamini said.
No bookings
would be required for empty
containers for top-up stack.
Dlamini said Transnet was
awaiting the arrival of 23 new
landslide straddles between
June and October 2017.
He said TPT had engaged
with the transport industry
and shipping lines in designing
the system.
“We don’t want to build a
system that will have restraint
on trade and a negative impact
on the economy,” he said.
Local transporter and
member of the Durban
Harbour Carriers' Association
(DHCA), Kevin Martin, said
the meeting had been a waste
of time and criticised the plan
as an attempt at “moving the
deck chairs on the Titanic.”
TPT needed to improve its use
of rail which
currently had
an eight-day
turnaround
time and to
spread the
workload
evenly between
stacking towers
he added,
claiming that
it was illegal
to implement
a mandatory
booking
system.
“If you don’t have equipment
how are you going to fulfil the
booking? If you want to charge
R1000 for a no-show then let
me charge you R1000 when
you keep me waiting,” Martin
said.
Harbour Carriers'
chairwoman Sue Moodley
said additional equipment
was needed to address
inefficiencies.
INSERT AND CAPTION
If you want to charge
R1000 for a no-show
then let me charge
you R1000 when you
keep me waiting.
– Kevin Martin