23 Nov 2004 :
To meet increasing demand the Cape Town Container Terminal is undergoing a major multi million rand capital expansion programme.

The focus of the superstructure enhancement drive is to improve ship turnaround time and better support the refrigerated cargo market while enhancing client services, said Oscar Borchards, business unit manager of the Cape Town Container Terminal.

At the start of the year an additional 424 reefer plug points were installed increasing the capacity from 968 plug points to 1 392 plug points.

The expansion plan for reefer plug point capacity will ensure that a further 330 fixed plug points are installed in January 2005 and a further 261 by May bringing the total number of reefer plug points to 1 983.

In the interim an additional 280 portable reefer plug power pack units will temporarily support capacity until all points have been installed, said Borchards.

A Refcon monitoring system that closely monitors reefer temperature regimes was installed at the terminal earlier this year. This supports the terminal’s quality drive to ensure that sensitive temperature regimes are closely monitored for specific fruit markets such as the USDS and Far East steri-controlled fruit market.

Further capital expenditure has been approved for a phased two-year programme that will replace the existing 23 straddle carriers with sophisticated Kalmar straddle carriers that can stack 4 high (1 over 3). This will bring the total compliment of straddles in service to 30 and create additional horizontal stacking capacity.

Four of these new Kalmar straddle carriers, representing an investment of R23 million, were commissioned in March this year.

Funding has also been approved to increase the stacking capacity for empty containers. The project plan has started and it is expected to be complete by the end of May 2005.

Through various management interventions, productivity at the Cape Town container terminal has increased positively from an average of 14.5 containers per crane hour to 18 containers per crane hour. As a result the terminals target has been increased to an average of 20 containers per crane hour.

Significant changes in operational efficiencies have resulted in improved vessel turnaround times with the majority of vessels being berthed on arrival. Average berthing time is three hours after the estimated time of arrival. This has had a positive result on the overall turnaround times of vessels calling at the terminal.

Further, the total integrated communication structure between Cape Town Container Terminal and all stakeholders including SA Revenue Services and shipping lines is in the process of being evaluated. The improved electronic data interchange will eliminate the outdated paper-based documentation processes currently in operation and improve the speed of communication between all stakeholders.