The trucking industry is
set to present Transnet
Port Terminals with a set
of proposals designed to
prevent lengthy delays that
are costing the industry
dearly.
While the proposed plan
will require a test run to
prove that it will work, the
industry is confident it
will enable the booking
system – which
TPT dropped in an
attempt to overcome
its congestion problem
– to be immediately
re-implemented.
This follows more than
a week of congestion at the
Port of Durban’s container
terminal at Pier 2 recently
which is estimated to have
cost the container
trucking industry about
R5 million per day in
demurrage.
Describing the effects
of this, Carl Webb,
MD of Project Cargo
Management (PCM), told
FTW: “We had a shipment
of 58 import containers ex
the vessel MSC Bilbao and
requested a
block stack
and express
access – both
of which were
agreed to and
supposedly
implemented.
“But
our subcontractor,
Sulawest, had
eight vehicles sitting at
DCT into the next week,
and only managed to uplift
two containers. Meantime,
we also had three
engineers from Germany
and a marine surveyor
waiting at our depot to
inspect the cargo.”
The unfortunate end
to these delays, Webb
added, was that they had
been forced to postpone
deliveries
of the
cargo to
Arcelor
Mittal in
Newcastle.
“This will
further
delay their
shut-down,
which they
can ill
afford at
this time.”
Sue
Moodley,
MD
of Transport.com and
chairman of the Durban
Harbour Carriers'
Association (DHCA),
pointed out that not only
had DCT not recovered
from the go-slow problem
that had triggered it, but
the week-long congestion
had been exacerbated by a
gas smell being detected,
and the truck
booking
system
had been
suspended
for most of
the days.
“Pier
2 then
submitted an
initiative to us at DHCA,”
she added, “which they
thought would provide a
solution to the trucking
industry. However, our
response was that we
needed to be consulted
and for a consolidated plan
to be tabled and actioned
before it was actually
implemented. We needed
to be able to measure the
success of the short-term
plan, before rolling it out
to the
trucking
industry.
“At our
TPT/
harbour
carriers’
meeting,
we
requested
that a
working
committee
be set
up. The
objectives
would be
to find short-, mediumand
long-term solutions
so that the trucking
community would not
suffer at the hands of Pier
2.
“The DHCA has also
accelerated this situation
to the Transnet National
Ports Authority’s Durban
port manager (Moshe
Motlohi) and asked for
assistance, as we need to
collaborate and save the
trucking community.”
And, talking to FTW last
week, Brenda Magqwaka,
TPT’s GM for container
terminal operations in
KZN, said that to prevent
a recurrence of the go
slow which had led to
the congestion, it had
been agreed to allow
workers a one-hour slot
for discussion of labour
matters.
INSERT
R5m The cost to truckers of
demurrage per day.
INSERT & CAPTION
It has been agreed
to allow workers a
one-hour slot for
discussion of labour
matters.
– Brenda Magqwaka
