Learning curve

Durban has been notoriously outdated and outmoded, but it’s not just the load limits on its quay wall that’s getting a slice of the large infrastructure budget; its culture is undergoing reconstruction too.

Starting with the ‘hard stuff’, South Africa’s state-owned Transnet National Port Authority has, it seems, recognised that it has issues, and is planning to spend Rnd21.3bn on a number of developments – particularly the capacity of the Durban Container Terminal. Pier 1 will increase its capacity from 700,000 teu to 820,000 teu by next year and eventually 1.2m teu by 2017.

In addition, the North Quay at DCT’s Pier 2 will be extended to increase capacity from the present 2.1m teu to 2.5m teu by 2014 with another step up to 3.3m teu by 2018. It’s not a straightforward job by any means as the work involved in cranking up old Durban’s structure to be able to cater for ships over 9,500 teu means a number of interventions. For example, although there’s already been works to enlarge and deepen the entrance, until now incoming ships have had to take advantage of lighters to relieve them of enough cargo to let them come through the restricted fairway.

So, the North Quay is being taken 4m deeper to 16.5 metres and widened to 19 metres. Further, the existing quay wall needs attention as it has been overreaching is load limits: it is a 1970s construction only meant to support cranes with a lifting capacity of 4 tonnes.

Whichever way you see it, there will be disruption and it’s possible that the necessary environmental-impact assessment might hold things up with works taking another four or five years to complete. Some of the volumes are going to be redirected to the Port of Ngqura, in the Eastern Cape. This is obviously a ‘win-win’ as the fairly recently opened Ngqura has got room for the extras and some might stick.

Minimum impact

Having said this, the idea, says TNPA, is that disruption should also be improved by a number of short and medium term projects, including upgrades at Island View, help for the congested port link road, and work at Maydon Wharf multipurpose berths to allow for containers.

Transnet Port Terminals, which deals more directly with the operational side, is involved in procuring seven tandem lift ship-to-shore cranes along with a number of mobile units that will help take the pressure off the Durban box terminal.

However, a large part of what Transnet is aiming at – particularly with reference to the Port of Durban – is a far-reaching culture change.

Herschel Maasdorp of STC-SA, explains that Transnet has acknowledged the inefficiencies and is responding through a group-wide capacity development drive. “The biggest gap to bridge? It is a people issue, really,” he says.

It is a matter of “mindset” explains Mr Maasdorp. “Let’s say in the past the culture of productivity among employees, especially terminal operators, may have come somewhat second to employment security as a driver. So, appropriate engagement with organised labour is a key factor…. which needs to be re-enforced with incentives for productivity.”

But it’s no airy, insubstantial daydream. Transnet, he says, is putting its money into this in a serious fashion: over the next three years more than Rnd100m is to be invested in maritime and port related training activities which do more than raise the hard skill levels, there is a ‘human capital’ strand as well and Transnet is already investing in ‘train-the-trainer’ programmes.

It’s notable that both the Dutch and Flemish governments want to help Durban (and SA generally) address this aspect as both have interests in the area – STC-SA’s Dutch parent, the Rotterdam-based STC-Group is made up of a number of maritime related educational and training organisations which aim to help large industry or state projects integrate effectively.

So, will the development of ‘business support skills’ crack this nugget? What can be relied on is the simple attitude of the workforce has been identified as remarkably far reaching in its impact. Either for good or bad.