South African terminal operator Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) has announced the rollout of a two-week pilot plan to ease truck bookings at the Durban Container Terminal (DCT). The pilot solution, if successful and fully adopted, will provide a level playing field for small transporters who were disadvantaged with the current logistics at the Durban port.
The proposed plan will open two booking windows every 48 hours, where an average of 2,480 truck booking slots will be made available to transporters. At present there are six windows in a 24-hour period, where an average of 325 truck booking slots are made available every four hours.
The current practice had been under scrutiny by small transporters, who had less resources to compete fairly with bigger transporters who had dedicated administrative staff to make bookings, TPT said in its press release yesterday.
TPT also said an analysis of the truck booking system in the last four months revealed an average of 1,950 slots were made available each day until end July, of which about 203 slots were wasted daily — where bookings were made and not used.
Of the total transport companies on the database, less than 10pc were able to secure more than four slots per window. When the slots were made available, they were booked out in just under 30 seconds, leading to allegations of corruption related to manipulation of the booking system. The Transnet Forensic Investigations Unit intervened and investigated employees and users.
In an industry session with TPT on 8 August, where over 300 members represented transport logistics associations, it was agreed wasting of slots should incur penalties. The terminal should also firm up stacks earlier and share with transporters 24 hours in advance.
Among the other issues raised was speeding up the equipment replacement plan at DCT Pier 2 and the pilot proposal including dedicating 16 straddle carriers to service trucks on the landside. The pier will also receive its first batch of 20 straddle carriers later this year to improve equipment availability.
Durban's coal exports from January to July this year totalled 1.29mn t, about 600,000t lower compared with the same period last year, according to Kpler data. Vessels loaded from Durban are typically smaller than other South African ports and deliver to India, China, Vietnam and Pakistan.
