TRANSNET NPA – PORT OF CAPE TOWN: Winds of Change Boost PoCT
At the Port of Cape Town, a strategy of improvement, progress, and upgrade is being rolled out to revitalise business and position the port as an international destination of choice. Port Manager Rajesh Dana is working hard to deliver, and he tells Enterprise Africa that impact is already being felt.
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At the end of 2023, Transnet issued a statement confirming that it was working hard to reduce economy-damaging congestion at key ports – Durban and Richards Bay. The difficulties have seen major port delays and slowdowns thanks to multiple issues including resource planning, adverse weather and infrastructure challenges.
At the country’s other major seaports, the picture isn’t much better. Ageing and underinvested equipment within poorly maintained facilities mean that now, vessels are challenged in the harbour and trucks and trains are hampered on the roads and tracks. The end result is negativity for the public.
However, at the Port of Cape Town, managed by Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA), an evolution is underway to revitalise and reinvent. Multiple high-value projects are ongoing to make infrastructure bigger, stronger, more efficient, and better for the environment. Obviously, these are long-term developments that will take time to deliver, but Port Manager Rajesh Dana is confident and tells Enterprise Africa that the impact is already being felt.
“In the Port of Cape Town, we have drastically eradicated marine shipping delays in the past 18-months.”
Dana joined Transnet in 1994 and has held various roles across finance, port management and systems implementation for three decades. He knows the ports, and Transnet, inside out. Having recently headed projects to transform the Port of Port Elizabeth as Port Manager there for 10 years, he was named Port Manager at Cape Town in December 2021. When he took the helm, a number of issues immediately required attention – mainly those that arose during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“At the Port of Cape Town, we have emerged stronger and far more resilient. The challenges we faced allowed us to reset and reinvent and strengthen our processes across the board,” he says.
“There has been an enhancement in our health, safety and environmental controls, and there has been an emergence of digital interfacing with customers, staff, and stakeholders,” he adds, “these are the two key pillars that have evolved in the post-Covid environment.”
As part of the recovery from the pandemic, TNPA has reinvented its strategy to ensure empowerment of ports to become delivery platforms. Three regional offices have been created to manage different ports in the country and the Port of Cape Town is part of a cluster in the West with Mossel Bay, Saldanha, and Port Nolloth.
“We have recognised the challenges that we face as a port authority, understanding that we manage all activities at the port, while further understanding that the port forms part of a greater transport and logistics solution. In the spirit of ensuring that the entire integrated transport chain operates efficiently, we have set in place a platform for meaningful collaboration and partnership across the entire value chain. That has allowed us to unite and create meaningful partnerships within that chain. From there, we built what we commonly refer to as our 8-point plan to improve efficiencies around the Port of Cape Town,” explains Dana.
Developed in partnership with multiple value chain partners, this plan is designed to bring about efficiencies and improvements – not small marginal gains, but larger step-change overhauls. “It is constantly being worked on, but we see strong evidence of its effectiveness.”
PROJECT PIPELINE
To address macro issues across the ports, Transnet is busy rolling out many different projects aimed at reducing backlog, improving efficiency, and driving productivity and modernisation.
In Cape Town, the second largest container port in the country and responsible for most of the fresh fruit export, the port remains of strategic and economic importance. In recent months, more and more vessels have been passing the Cape of Good Hope as a result of avoidance of the Red Sea route and the conflict in the Middle East. This 3500 mile change in plans makes for increased reliance on Africa ports to deliver refuelling and servicing, and South Africa should be the obvious choice. But effort is required to convince international shipping companies that the country’s ports are ready and able to deliver with Reuters describing African ports as ‘overwhelmed, ill-equipped, and poorly performing’.
“As the port authority, we are effectively the landlord and so we manage and regulate all operations within the port boundaries. That includes movement of vessels and cargo in and out of the port. To do that, we license different operators within the port system. We license terminal operators for example, and we license bunker operators, stevedores, diving services, and a host of other services on the back of offering a full suite of integrated port services,” details Dana.
“We are empowered by regulation and we have certain mandates – mainly to plan and develop the port. We have it as a mandate to handle port development framework plans and also to execute on strategy. We control all operations in and around the port, and we serve as a change agent in the industry. Most importantly, we are geared towards trade facilitation for the movement of cargo in and out of ports, positioning them as a true gateway to and from international markets.”
To do so effectively, the port follows a ‘Reinvention For Growth (R4G)’ strategy which follows, as its four key pillars, operational excellence, revenue diversification and growth, capacity creation, and financial sustainability.
MAJOR EXPANSION
Currently, a major expansion at the Cape Town Container Terminal to take capacity from one million to 1.4 million containers annually is underway. The first step is the construction and rollout of a brand-new truck staging area capable of handling 200 trucks. The next step is to enhance and upgrade the rail martialling yard to allow for 50 rather than 40 wagons per train. Increasing cargo from road to rail remains important for Transnet. At the same time, the company will look to enhance capacity at the terminal by improving stacking numbers. Strengthening floor areas will allow containers to be stacked five high instead of three, allowing for significant increases in throughput.
“That is the key catalytic project which is supported by many other investments as well, including upgrades to our ship repair facilities – the Robinson Drydock, Sturrock Drydock, and the Synchrolift,” Dana highlights.
“We recently completed the complete revamp of the pumping system of the Robinson Drydock – the oldest operating cobblestone drydock in the world – and that modernisation has led to improved efficiency and utilisation of that facility.
“The Sturrock Drydock – the largest in the Southern Hemisphere – is where we are focusing on the capstans, caissons, and cranes. We are well progressed in all areas and we are expecting delivery in the short-term.”
In 2019, former Port Manager Mpumi Dweba-Kwetana told Enterprise Africa of the country’s desire to become international recognised for its ship repair capabilities.
To complement infrastructural enhancements, the port’s fleet of support vessels has also received investment. A pair of new workboats, designed to maintain marine operations even in tough conditions, are more powerful than those already active at the port. TNPA has also commissioned the construction of two launchers which Dana hopes to be active before the end of 2024, and he says a new helicopter service is also in the pipeline for 2025 to transfer crew to offshore vessels, minimising the need for pilot boats which has previously been a challenge with the city’s windy conditions.
“There is a host of other capital projects that we are embarking on at the same time,” he states.
BACK OF PORT
In revenue sustainability and diversification, investigation is underway at the port to understand more about the potential rollout of a LPG storage facility. This, says Dana, will result in improved fuel security and energy diversification for the port and the region – which expands alongside the port.
At the end of 2023, TNPA issued a Request For Information to the market around the design, financing, development, constriction, and maintenance of a back of port facility known as the Culemborg development. Parcels of land owned by TNPA will be overhauled to provide significant capacity improvements for port operations.
“It is one of the most exciting projects at the port,” says Dana. “A back of port logistics hub will add value to operations taking place at the port while enhancing efficiency of cargo movement in and out. We envisage creation and establishment of cold stores and warehousing, and all logistics associated with movement of cargo in and out of the port, including imported and exported cargo. This is a key revenue diversification project, and there are more including hull cleaning and small-scale LNG.”
Importantly, no project is given the go ahead without extensive workshopping and consultation. Any capital spend must yield results at the port at such a vital time – a turning point in the port’s life, moving from the ‘tavern of the seas’ to become a strategic, integrated transport and logistic hub for all of Africa. Even the wind has been the subject of scrutiny from TNPA and Dana explains that partnership is again at the centre of the progress.
“The wind in Cape Town is referred to as the Cape Doctor – it’s quite aggressive,” he smiles. “To better understand this, we have entered into a MoA with the CSIR who have partnered with three academic institutions in the country to provide us with a better predictive model of wind forecasting. We also asked them to propose to us infrastructure solutions and terminal handling equipment that is more resistant to wind. We also asked them to look at the optimal recovery plan when we are inevitably forced to close because of wind. It’s well-advanced and we are working closely with the partners who are doing groundbreaking work that will bear fruit for us and for the entire port system in South Africa, and probably further afield across the world.”
Weather remains the key challenge at the Port of Cape Town. “We are located in the Cape of Storms and that is not said lightly,” reiterates Dana. Recent additions to the quayside include hydraulic shore tension units that keep long vessels moored stably in long waves that are prevalent in winter times. This allows for ongoing loading operations, even during challenging conditions. Because of the success with the first four units, TNPA has already progressed in the acquisition of a further 16 units for the Port of Cape Town to cover several berths.
CONNECTED ASSETS
For cargo that must move on the road, the Port of Cape Town is working closely with the local community to make changes to road infrastructure. An interim truck staging area has been put in place that is fully operational and helping to control traffic around the port. Dana is using the opportunity to encourage more trucks to take up night runs through the port, easing the pressure on capacity in regular working hours.
“The port operates 24/7 but the entire value chain does not,” he says. “We are advocating for available slots at night to be taken by truckers to ensure the smooth flow of trucks while not creating peaks during daytime operation – that is critically important.”
Of course, none of this progress would be made without a dedicated and forward-thinking employee base, which the Port of Cape Town is happy to boast. Shipping, logistics, and marine operations are all people businesses, and this means good people can contribute to ongoing improvement.
“Our human capital is key to everything,” underlines Dana, “and we have placed a lot of emphasis on creating a culture of service excellence and customer-centricity. We have two common themes that we continue to work on: ‘Our port, our pride’ which is well-accepted by all employees, and ‘every minute counts’ and this is driving and unifying the entire labour force in the port to move to greater heights.”
Unlike most problems, deep infrastructure and investment issues cannot be overhauled at the click of a button. The TNPA strategy must be long-term, and the foundational port structure in South Africa – especially at Cape Town – makes for an opportunity-laden issue which is being solved by those who are able to look past the storms and towards a collaborative future that is sustainable.