COLLABORATION CUTS CONGESTION AT DURBAN

Eager to improve the situation, South Africa Port Operations (SAPO) set up the Interim Advisory Board co-chaired by Mervin Chetty and Dave Rennie, which brought together representatives from all parties involved in the supply chain to analyse what measures could be adopted to provide immediate relief to the beleaguered Durban Container Terminal and ensure that further growth could be catered for.

Technical Task Teams were sent in to undertake a detailed operational audit of issues relating to processes, people, third parties and equipment. The information was then allocated into 12 enabling blocks thereby enabling action to be taken at all levels of the business and in the supply chain.

Chetty explains that one of the aims of this process was not to apportion blame to any one particular party, but rather to find solutions to the congestion problem, whose resolution would ultimately benefit the country as a whole.

It soon became apparent that one of the keys to boosting productivity at Durban was to invest large amounts of money in new equipment. SAPO therefore sank, $77m into the business last year, rising to $135m in the current financial year and to $140m in 200506, before easing off somewhat to $122m in 2006-07. The money has paid for the refurbishment of the terminal's complement of 12 Noell quayside gantry cranes, the acquisition of 60 Kalmar straddle carriers and the purchase of three Liebherr gantry cranes, which will enter service in October, to be followed by three further gantry cranes, which IMSA is to deliver in 2005. This will bring the terminal up to the internationally recognised average of one gantry crane per 100 metres of quay line.

Chetty explains that while additional training, organisational changes and re-engineered processes have also helped improve productivity and efficiency, it soon became apparent that quite a lot of the problems being experienced by DCT were, in fact directly attributable to shipping lines themselves and other third parties.

Indeed, by persuading vessels to call less often, but with bigger concentrations of boxes per call, berth congestion could be reduced and crane productivity increased. So, from 120 vessel calls per month in 2001, DCT had reduced that to fewer than 100 calls per month last year, although the number of container moves had increased from 600 to 900. When the new cranes are all operational, Chetty estimates that an average of 2.2 of them will be concentrated on each vessel, boosting productivity four or even five times higher than that currently achievable.

MODIFYING THIRD PARTIES' BEHAVIOUR However, while most of the improvements in the last 18 months are directly related to changes implemented in the terminal, Chetty now believes that further progress can only come from modifying the behaviour of third parties through a radical re-engineering of the supply chain.

For example, shipping lines still have much to do, above all by improving the accuracy of their forward information to the terminal.

He cites as an example a vessel that is scheduled to load 600 boxes, but in reality only leaves with 400. The 200 left behind will therefore have to be despatched on a following vessel, effectively blocking a stack in the already congested yard.

"Sometimes, the nominated substitute vessel fails to materialise on time. We are then forced to move those containers out of the yard, which creates a logistical nightmare. ETAs have to be more accurate, while last minute changes have to be minimised if shipping lines want improved turnaround times, " Chetty insists.

Statistical analysis also showed how road deliveries of containers effectively reflected the fact that cargo owners, unlike the port itself, did not work around the clock. This resulted in most deliveries to DCT taking place between six and ten in the morning and between two and four in the afternoon.

The result was that truck turnaround times of 45 minutes were not uncommon. By re-engineering the gate processes and sensitising the industry, trucks are now able to complete operations within the terminal in an average of 24 minutes, effectively better than results posted in many European ports.

"If we continue to look at further ways of re-engineering this process, there is no reason why we cannot improve significantly even on these timings, " insists Chetty. "It is simply a question of changing the behaviour of all those involved in the supply chain by questioning established practices and improving upon them."

In fact, such has been the resounding success of the programme at DCT that methods used there are now being applied to reengineer processes and supply chains at both Port Elizabeth and Cape Town, despite there being no particular congestion problems at either port.

PS