Creating capacity ahead of demand, and improving productivity in throughput units per hour to match international best practices, have been the project management objectives of Transnet

Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) is on course to achieving these goals, said Nosipho Damasane, its chief operating officer.

TPT has invested R72 billion in port infrastructure over the past five years and R18.4bn in 2010 to ensure the country has adequate infrastructure to deal with capacity constraints.

“Transnet has taken a long-term view to investing in infrastructure development, as we have had a long history of little investments in ports and we are playing catch up,” said Damasane. “Port infrastructure is pivotal as a facilitator for economic growth.

“The inability to move goods in and out of the country is one of the biggest challenges we are facing, and we are trying to negotiate it,” she added.

Productivity and efficiency

Productivity and efficiency improvements form part of TPT’s growth strategy. These include improving container handling rates and ship turnaround times; more effective use of wagons and locomotives; on-time departures and arrivals; a reduction in the number of train cancellations; and a reduction in security incidents.

Damasane said the ports across the country were on track to meet TPT’s target of increasing the number of gross crane hours (GCHs) – a measure of efficiency in container handling – to 28.

“Most of the South African port terminals are achieving the benchmarks. The key challenge would be in Durban’s pier 2, where gross crane handling has improved to 23.

“In Cape Town, where a R5.6-billion port expansion is currently in progress and close to 85% completed, the number of GCHs is 28, and in Port Elizabeth the figure is 27 to 28. Ngqura (where the number of crane gangs has been increases to six) has hit 28 already,” she added.

One of the success stories has been Ngqura; its budgeted container handling to March 2011 has been revised from 10 000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) to 468 000 TEUs.

Container handling capacity at the container terminals is being increased. At the Durban container terminal, it has been improved over the past two years from 2.1 million TEUs to 2.9 million TEUs, and TPT plans to increase this further to 3.6 million TEUs by 2017.

A further capacity of 600 000 TEUs will be added at Durban’s Maydon Wharf by 2017 and 6.2 million TEUs at Bayhead, starting in 2037.

Damasane said TPT is confident that South Africa is reaching international benchmarks in port terminal efficiencies.

Karl Xhanti Socikwa, chief executive officer of TPT, has said that overall efficiencies are not meeting world-class standards, but there have been improvements.

Project management principles

Damasane said the project management principles applied in creating capacity included stating the objectives, doing reality checks, following a certain process and then assessing the outcome of the process.

The reality checks and challenges included the acknowledgement that demand was much more than what the terminals could handle, while the current capacity had reached its highest levels.

Old cranes were at the end of their economic life span and height in terms of servicing current or future container vessels.

There was limited yard equipment capacity, while the current quay walls were not able to support bigger cranes.

TPT celebrated milestones at its two major container terminals to address these challenges, said Damasane.

Cape Town

The R5.4-billion, five-year expansion programme at the Cape Town container terminal marked a major milestone as it continues to transform South Africa’s second largest container terminal into a modern facility.

The Cape Town Container Terminal officially opened its new truck entrance and staging area valued at R12 million, effective 1 September 2011. This was a significant milestone for the industry and port users.

Its significance will be evident in the alleviation of truck congestion from Duncan Road, located within the Port of Cape Town.

The new truck entrance comprises four lanes, as well as a fifth for abnormal cargo, leading into the recently combined A and P Check that serves as a truck and container verification point for the terminal.

Willie van Dyk, project director of the Cape Town Container Terminal, said that by April 2011, R3.2 billion worth of work had been completed. The project is due for completion in 2013, when a further 412 metres of the quay wall will have been raised and strengthened – providing safe mooring for larger ships.

Durban

At the end of September 2011, TPT celebrated a milestone in its ambitious plan to normalise operations to levels similar to those experienced by customers prior to the Navis system launch.

The plan included accelerated spend of capital expenditure, an increase in gangs to a total of 15 by next year, and improving the reefer capacity.

TPT container sector acting COO Velile Dube said this was the first of many milestones on the way to making Durban Container Terminal an efficient and competitive business that served the needs of its stakeholders.

As part of TPT’s 2011 accelerated capex plan, 28 straddle carriers (straddles) have been purchased for Durban Container Terminal at an estimated total cost of R205m. These include 14 straddles that have twin-lift capability.

“At the end of September, we commissioned four of these straddles; the delivery of the remainder will be rolled out until December 2011,” says Durban Container Terminal executive, Hector Danisa.

Straddles are a crucial piece of equipment in a container operation environment, in both the water-side and land-side aspect of the terminal.

The new straddles are “four-high” machines, which means that they can stack up to four containers and will add great value to the stacking capacity of the terminal.

Current plans are to have a total of 113 straddles in operation by January 2012.

TPT unveiled a new refrigerated container yard (known as the “reefer” yard) at Pier 2, which consists of 232 container slots valued at R9m. This reefer yard is the first at Durban Container Terminal to stack four containers high with a straddle operation. The layout and design of the reefer yard has easily accessible walkways, which makes the operation safer for the operator and reduces the risk of damaging electric cables.

Ultimately, the new yard will have a capacity of 1 068 reefers, allowing the terminal to meet customer expectations during the next reefer season.

TPT has recruited 70 operators of lifting equipment trainees in July, who underwent a certification process in September.

International benchmarks

Says Damasane, “Improving capacity so that South Africa could benefit from cargo that could easily have landed in another African port destination if the TPT did not increase its own cargo-handling ability, is one of the purposes of Transnet’s expansion plans.

“If we don’t develop our infrastructure, we won’t benefit from IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa) summits or BRICS projects (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa fast-developing markets).”

Improving capacity goes beyond South African borders, as ongoing engagements continue with Transnet and Angola’s Luanda and Lobito port authorities to pair the newly developed capacity at the Port of Ngqura, with the needs of the relatively congested Angolan harbours, reported Engineering News (10 December 2010). ☑

Fanie Heyns

Heyns completed an honour’s degree at the University of Stellenbosch and was a specialist journalist at “Die Burger” before venturing into freelance journalism in 2003. He writes for a diversity of specialist publications on a variety of subjects, covering business, education, local government, the medical industry, sport, technology, project management and transport.

Heyns can be contacted via e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .