Question NW58 to the Minister of Public Enterprises
23 February 2024 - NW58
Gondwe, Dr M to ask the Minister of Public Enterprises
What (a) may have been the cause of the lack of improvement at the Cape Town harbour in December 2023 and (b) was the level of efficiency of the Cape Town harbour in December 2023; (2) Whether there has been an increase in shifts and manpower during the busy deciduous export season at the Cape Town harbour; (3) Whether there were any major delays at the Cape Town harbour over the period of December 2023; if not, what caused the inefficiency at the harbour; if so, what caused these delays; (4) Whether the seven pre-used rubber-tyred gantry cranes that were delivered in December 2023, have been integrated into the harbour’s activity yet? NW59E
Reply:
According to the information received from Transnet.
Major problems at CTCT that impact on its operations is twofold:
(i) The first is the extreme windy conditions which paralyzes operations for long periods of time. Transnet has obviously no control over this problem.
(ii) The shortage of equipment.
(iii) Not withstanding the above, excellent progress has been made by putting in place an experienced management team, installing new equipment on an incremental basis and ensuring that both cranes and other equipment are able both to steady ships in rough weather and cranes which operate in windy conditions.
(1)(a) CTCT only executed 12 vessels for the month, compared to an average expectation of 20 per month. In 2023, CTCT recorded the highest number of hours lost due to strong winds in December, with 183 hours (equivalent to eight days) lost compared to 150 hours during the same period in 2022. The increased wind speed experienced also prevented the safe docking of some vessels into the terminal. When the terminal goes windbound, it means that the terminal must cease operation for safety reasons.
CTCT has also been challenged with equipment unavailability of especially Rubber Tyred Gantry (RTG) cranes and Haulers, which have exceeded their design life. Equipment breakdowns result in crane down time and reduced productivity over the quay. TPT have since made significant strides in improving the availability of equipment, particularly through the delivery of 7 used RTGs in December 2023, 6 of which are already in operation. Training has been done on this new equipment.
In addition to the above, the terminal was shut for the public holidays on 25th December 2023 and 1st of January 2024.
(1)(b) While CTCT’s headline productivity measure is the Moves per Ship Working Hour (SWH), which measures the average container moves on a vessel per hour, the current focus is on a number of containers moved over the quayside over a 24 hour period. This helps to maximise the volumes rather than focusing solely on SWH which can be compromised if the focus is on volumes.
For the month of December, CTCT averaged an SWH of 27,6 moves per hour, servicing a 2-Berth operation for a portion of the month while the 7 used RTGs were discharged at one of the berths. In January, the terminal resumed a 3-berth operation, but this means that cranes and supporting RTGs and Haulers were spread across 3 vessels instead of 2, resulting in a reduction in equipment allocation per vessel. As a result, the SWH for January 2024 was 22.
A more realistic indication of the operational improvement is the overall throughput across all berths, which is measured by the daily container moves. For the month of December, the terminal moved an average of 700 containers per day. Container moves in January increased to 842 moves per day and 1164 moves per day for February month to date. Furthermore, the average daily rate for the last 7 days is 1238. This reflects an upward trend in operational activity. The immediate target is to ramp up to 1500 container moves per day, with an aspiration to improve further to 1700 per day.
(2) Since the beginning of December, CTCT appointed additional personnel, which coincided with the ramp-up of the current deciduous season. These include appointments of Diesel Mechanics, Millwrights, Driver Articulated Vehicles and Operators of Lifting Equipment amongst others. A Team from Navis, the software system used to operate the terminal, is also in CTCT to train the Planners and Supervisors to use the system optimally and improve efficiencies.
(3) In 2023, CTCT recorded the highest number of hours lost due to strong winds in December, with 183 hours (equivalent to eight days) lost compared to 150 hours during the same period in 2022. The increased wind speed experienced also prevented the safe docking of some vessels into the terminal. When the wind is terminal bound, it means that the terminal must cease operation for safety reasons.
As previously indicated above, the delays can be linked to the equipment availability challenges, particularly with aging RTG cranes and Haulers which CTCT currently faces. This has led to downtime and reduced productivity along the quay. TPT has made significant progress in addressing this, obtaining 7 used RTGs in December 2023, with 6 already in operation and staff trained on the new equipment.
(4) Since the delivery of Rubber-Tyred Gantries (RTGs) on 11 December 2023, the Cape Town Container Terminal (CTCT) has completed the following:
- Fully commissioned a total of six RTGs with the seventh still in progress.
- A total of 54 Operators of Lifting Equipment (OLE) have completed training on the pre-used RTGs.
- Six RTGs have been successfully handed over to Operations. These machines now fully form part of our RTG fleet.
- The seventh RTG wasn’t successfully commissioned due to additional parts it required, which are on order from abroad. The commissioning process is in progress. It is projected that all seven RTGs will be operational by the end of February 2024.
Remarks: Reply: Approved / Not Approved/ Comments
Jacky Molisane P J Gordhan, MP
Acting Director-General Minister of Public Enterprises
Date: Date: