THE TRIAL run for the early opening of weekend container stacks in the Durban terminal is working well, and looks like becoming a permanent feature of the Portnet service.
According to container marketing manager, Mike Fell, the new system is being well-used, and not abused.
The scheme was originally started early-June in response to customer complaint that weekend stack opening often couldn't be met by clients who closed for business over weekends. The terminal management therefore re-scheduled Friday and Saturday stack-opening by one day (to Thursday and Friday respectively) to allow more business-week access time.
The only problem with this, said Fell, would have been clients who didn't stand behind their notified ETA (estimated time of arrival) dates. This could have caused stacking down-time, and wasted the extra days available for clients to deliver containers during their normal business hours. But the new system has not been abused, Fell added, and suggested that everyone had quickly adjusted to the extra day of opening time.
Questioned on whether this now meant that this beneficial practice would now move from its trial run to being a permanent fixture, Fell said: Things are looking very positive in that respect.
