Truckers question DCT assurances on high-capacity ships

Despite Transnet assurances
that the Port of Durban is
able to successfully handle
high-capacity containerships,
container truckers are less
optimistic.
This follows the recent
arrival of the 9 200-TEU
MSC Chicago, the largest
cargo vessel ever at the port
(see story alongside). While
the Transnet National Ports
Authority (TNPA) loudly
made the point that the
turnaround of this vessel
proved Durban’s ability to
handle such vessels, the
trucking industry raises some
significant concerns.
Peter Newton, director of
Seaboard and an authority on
port matters, has indicated
signs of doubt about the
ability of Transnet Port
Terminals (TPT) to be able
to handle this sort of highcapacity
vessel.
“The Chicago had 6 707
declared boxes (2 288 off and
4 419 to load),” he told FTW.
“With those sorts of volumes
the export stack and import
‘free’ periods of three-days
need looking at.
“Which, simple though
it may seem, could lead to
some interesting debate with
the diehards on the TPT
side of the equation. There
is a lot of unjust enrichment
(aka revenue) to be extorted
from port users by keeping
the windows narrow – and,
in many instances, narrower
than TPT itself can handle!”
But, given the current three
days’ free period, how would
TPT be able to perform
before the penalty periods
came into being?
Not too well at all, if you
look at the current average
figures handled by TPT,
said Kevin Martin, MD of
Freightliner and chairman of
the Durban Harbour Carriers’
Association (DHCA).
If you take the Chicago’s
4 400 export boxes, which,
if they were all incoming
exports (which they weren’t,
with the majority being
transhipments already stored
inside the port), would have
to be handled at a rate of
1 460 gate moves per day,
just for that one vessel, to fit
that three-day period.
That excludes both the
exports for other ships
berthed alongside the
container terminal, and the
import boxes that also had to
be handled for the Chicago
and other vessels.
“TPT is currently doing
about 2 200 gate moves per
day,” said Martin. “That,
with 1 460 export boxes
alone for the Chicago, is just
too high a percentage for one
vessel.”
Extrapolate two to three
years down the line, he
added, to a time when these
big vessels are the norm
rather than the exception, and there would be more of these
big stacks.
“If, at that time, there
was one vessel doing 4 000
exports (that’s 1 333 gate
moves a day) and another
with 4 400 (that’s 1 460/day),
add the two together and you
get a required rate of 2 793
gate moves per day – well
over the present performance
rate of TPT.”
To make matters worse,
there’s the Transnet plan to
have the new deep-water port
at the old airport site up and
running by 2019 – eight years
down the line.
“Within that eight-year
period,” Martin added, “we
are going to get bigger and
bigger vessels starting to call
regularly at Durban, and our
gates aren’t even coping at
the moment.
“Overseas, where such
big vessels are the regular
port callers, they are looking
at about a 40-minute truck
turnaround time. We are
currently getting vehicles
often sitting for 12-15 hours
– and that’s with our present
lower numbers of boxes being
handled.
“With the advent of these
big ships, I’m foreseeing a
major disaster just waiting to
happen.”