Dear Colleagues
An incredible milestone was reached in the PoCT with the handover ceremony of the brand new 9 RTG’s took place at the CTCT, taking place on Wednesday 17th September.
Cast your mind back to a few years ago with all the challenges due to incessant breakdowns thanks to aging equipment that had not been serviced or repairs taking extralong as sourcing of 2nd hand parts became an issue due to lack of funding, let alone the flat tyres that could not be pumped due to no pump being on hand!!!!.
Have we come a long way………….
Today we stand proud with these beautiful ‘Red Ladies’ as Transnet CEO, Michele Philips, calls them, gracing the terminal.
I was honoured to part of the celebrations yesterday and what an incredible show the terminal put on for us!
We had the opportunity to watch as each of the new RTGs had their turn in coming into operation with a container from the different carriers who use the terminal, being in place under each gantry, and Dean from TPT explaining the operation to us – what a memorable moment!.
It was so well orchestrated that the only thing missing was the symphonic music to accompany this!
A quick note, the RTGs are manufactured by Liebherr – the best – and can handle winds up to 90kph and due to their anti-sway mechanism, can operate up to that point. There is a full- service contract in place with the Liebherr team to assist with any issues, so no outsourcing or running around looking for the cheapest spare parts in case of a breakdown!!
Thank you – Transnet for transforming the Port of Cape Town and begin this positive change and at no pain to the fiscus as Transnet goes to market for this and will soon turn the corner to become a profitable and world class organisation again.
All this scribe can say is – WOW!!! In my 76 year journey this has been a moment in time!
The stats for week 08 – 15th September as follows:
• CTCT : 13395 TEU handled, 14000 target; 16 GCH 19 target; 37.7 SWH 40 target; 34 hours wind delay; 31% stack occupancy; 397 rail moves target 242
• CTMPT : 2656 TEU Handled 2271 target; 13 GCH target 16; 15 SWH target 19; 52 stack occupancy
• FPT : 43% Berth Occupancy 6 vessels handled; 1 container; Dry bulk 1540.46 MT Canola; B/B General 884.879 MT; B/B Fruit 4971 Fruit
• Equipment : as above
• Fruit : Citrus Season coming to an end
EWC hosted their 46th AGM on Wednesday as well, so all in all, a memorable day.
Please diarise Thursday 23rd October when we join the space race!!! Watch this space for further details.
Sincerely;
Terry Gale
Chairman
