Transnet Port Terminals Performing Despite Constraints
With the 2022/2023 financial year drawing to a close, the Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) business had recorded a few records across sectors despite flooding, looting, inclement weather electricity constraints.
Speaking at the Transport Forum last week, TPT Chief Executive Jabu Mdaki said that two of the four sectors the company operated in were at an all time high. The platform is an annual collaborative engagement with customers and reflects on the year that has passed while also sharing the strategy for the new financial year beginning in April 2023.
“The automotive and break-bulk sectors are performing exceptionally well, and volumes are higher than they’ve ever been” he said. He added that the automotive terminals would have handled over 825 000 fully built vehicles by end March and break-bulk volumes would have exceeded 27 million tons in the same period. The bulk and container sector volumes had remained more or less the same and there was opportunity for a strong finish at the end of March.
Engaging the forum on the eight key segments namely containers, automotive, iron ore, magnetite, manganese, chrome, coal and breakbulk – the different heads of the KwaZulu Natal, Western and Eastern Cape regions detailed plans on infrastructure, maintenance and how they would manage the supply chain process better while placing a strong emphasis on people.
In KwaZulu Natal, the Durban Container Terminals are also in the process of procuring additional straddle carriers while the ship to shore cranes were undergoing midlife refurbishment in a phased approach. Initiative like the driver truck management system (DTMS) were already in place at the terminal to ensure the safe keeping of cargo within premises. The implementation of the new free import storage rule last year is also yielding benefits that improve yard fluidity and overall efficiency in the system. The terminals had relooked the free 72 hours an importer has to collect a container. Previously, the counting of the free 72 hours would start after all containers on a vessel had been offloaded. Now, the counting of the free 72 hours begins 24 hours after a container is discharged from the vessel and placed in the stacking area. In recent weeks, the terminal has been meeting its contractual obligations with shipping lines and meeting most key performance indicators.
The Richards Bay Terminals will soon have an additional conveyor route to increase the offloading capacity of magnetite. This, in addition to a new general-purpose loader. Year to date volumes were 9% higher at the Bulk Terminals and 44% higher at the Breakbulk Terminal owing to the global coal demand. One of the biggest successes of the terminals was the adoption of reliability-based maintenance, moving from reactive to proactive maintenance regime that is supported by ownership culture.
With 31% more container volumes compared to the same period last year, the Eastern Cape Container Terminals have met budget despite new European Union cold treatment regulations as well as limited market access to the Middle and Far East due to vessel omissions. The east London Terminal is also handling export grain volumes again after the temporary closure of the silo for two years due to low regional volumes. The Nqgura Container Terminal volumes were 20% higher and the port Elizabeth Container Terminal volumes were 11% across refrigerated containers. Automotive volumes were higher at the Port Elizabeth Car Terminal by 34% and 98% at the East London Terminal.
In the Western Cape, long-term spares supply contracts for equipment have been awarded as the Cape Town Container Terminal continues to bring back more equipment that has been long-standing due to unavailability of spares. This will improve availability and reliability of equipment. Replacement of key equipment for the terminal has also begun with 20 new trailers already manufactured and delivered by Transnet Engineering (TE). The terminal has shared with stakeholders widely, its plans to replace equipment as well as the midlife refurbishment of its ship-to-shore cranes. The terminal is recovering from the impact of heavy winds experienced in the past week. The inclement weather resulted in the terminal not being fully operational for 4,5 days, losing up to 108 man working hours in that period. The Saldanha Terminals remain the largest export iron ore facility in Africa, loading more than 8000 tons per hour. The terminal has filed an application to increase volume throughput per annum from 60 million tons per annum to 76.
According to Mdaki, “This Transport Forum platform is important as it ensures TPT manages to share its current and future plans with customers, port users and relevant stakeholders in order to contribute to making South Africa globally competitive”. He added that the company was handling more coal and manganese than it’s ever handled in its history, as global demand increases across these commodities.