It’s been a busy festive season for container shipping terminals in the Eastern Cape, with some of the province’s cargo holding terminals setting new performance records for the fastest freight turnaround times in December.
The Ngqura Container Terminal (NCT) and the Port Elizabeth Container Terminal (PECT), both belonging to the Eastern Cape division of Transnet Port Terminals, saw a significant increase in the handling of shipping containers. The figures for year-on-year growth at these facilities are as follows:
Ngqura Container Terminal
The NCT experienced 66% improvement on container handling since the facility first opened in 2009 – the terminal reached an average rate of 37.7 shipping container moves per GCH – Gross Crane Hour.
Port Elizabeth Container Terminal
The PECT has seen a 27% improvement over the same period, reaching an average of 29 moves per GCH.
According to Transnet representatives, this stellar performance was largely due to the following two factors:
1. The introduction of cutting-edge technology to container shipping terminals throughout Africa.
2. The establishment of new staff programmes, designed to boost productivity and encourage accountability among employees.
Transnet representatives told press that the Eastern Cape’s stellar operational performance this past Christmas season serves as a clear indication that the company’s “various interventions are bearing fruit”.
The Year to Come
It looks like the ocean freight industry in this South African province is set to go from strength to strength – shipping agencies in the Eastern Cape can look forward to a lucrative year as the SA Government makes several multimillion-Rand port investments as a means of improving the regional economy. Transnet will also be investing R33 billion in the ports of South Africa between 2012 and 2019, as part of the company’s R300 billion Market Demand Strategy. Here’s to a year of even faster and more efficient sustainable growth in the South African container shipping sector.
