Sapo takes delivery of new straddle carriers

Dec 6, 2005
Author: Sapo

Tuesday, December 6, 2005

South African Port Operations (SAPO) will take delivery of the first batch of four Kalmar Series 7 straddle carriers in Durban today, in keeping with continued efforts to boost efficiency and deliver world class service.

Tomorrow will see the completion of the commissioning and endurance testing of the second of three IMPSA cranes at the Durban Container Terminal.

Hamilton Nxumalo, SAPO GM: Equipment Engineering and Asset Management said the arrival this week of the first batch of Kalmar Straddle carriers was in keeping with its capital expenditure plans of R987-million for 2005/6.

SAPO, which is one of the country’s key economic drivers of the government’s export-led growth strategy, has embarked on an aggressive turn-around strategy which has included a new management team, a focus on supply chain management and customer service and a capital expenditure plan to improve efficiencies to compete globally.

Mr Nxumalo said: “Our mandate recognises that to create an effective and efficient freight and logistics chain, we need to look beyond our physical and organisational boundaries and see the trade process as a whole, working with other supply chain partners to ensure improved outcomes for all.”

He said the investment was an important indicator of SAPO’s commitment to ensuring that it could provide world-class services to compete on a global scale.

“We entered into an agreement with Kalmar recently for the delivery of 7th Generation straddle carriers, estimated to cost about R431 million. These will be deployed at the PE, Cape Town and Durban Container Terminals. The first batch of four will arrive in Durban tomorrow as knock-down components.

“They will be put onto over heights and erected on site. We anticipate that they will be commissioned by the end of December.”

Mr Nxumalo and his team who returned from Finland last week, said the straddle carriers had been fully tested and he was satisfied that they would increase productivity at the container terminals.

“There are a number of benefits of the 7 series straddle carriers including importantly the bigger cabins which will benefit the operator’s comfort as well as improved visibility. In addition the new series has an enhanced braking system.

“This new generation has also improved storage implications for DCT as it can operate one over three stacked containers allowing more stacking space.”

He said 16 straddle carriers would be positioned at DCT, 11 at PE Container Terminal and 26 at CT Container Terminal based on the criteria of equipment needs and the economies of scale.

PE will receive its first five straddle carriers in January and will be commissioned in February, while CT will receive its first shipment in February and will be commissioned in March. The last batch destined for CTCT is expected to be fully commissioned in July 2006.

Mr Nxumalo said also that productivity at DCT would be further boosted following the commissioning process of the second of the IMPSA cranes, which commenced last Friday. The crane is expected to be officially handed over to SAPO for immediate use today.

The first IMPSA crane was commissioned in September and the final crane is expected to be commissioned in January 2006. The cranes which arrived in South Africa in loose components in November 2004 were assembled and erected locally, with 90 percent of the steel structures manufactured in South Africa.

The cranes are expected to improve productivity and boost efficiency at the Durban Container Terminal as they are able to move 40 ton containers and 65 tons of cargo via a crane management system which uses the latest technology.

“Crane Capacity at DCT will increase to 19, taking the overall crane capacity at all 3 Containers Terminals to 30. Ship turnaround time will improve significantly, while ship delays will be maintained below 16 hours. We anticipate container handling to increase to 2,5 million TEU’s in 2006/07.”