Transnet Port Terminals News

Staff shortages caused by an ongoing strike over wages are impacting container and car terminals at South Africa's Durban port, one of the busiest on the continent, a unit of state-owned logistics company Transnet said on Tuesday.Transnet, which manages South Africa's freight rail network and ports, declared force majeure last week after its workers went on strike over a wage dispute.In an update on its website, Transnet Port Terminals said the strike had impacted waterside and landside operations at its Durban port…

CMA CGM, the world's fourth-largest container shipping line, will impose emergency congestion surcharges at Cape Town port in July due to disruptions caused by the coronavirus, it has told customers.From July 1 until further notice, it will impose a surcharge of $550 for 20-foot containers and reefers and a $1,100 surcharge for 40-foot containers and reefers, CMA said in the letter dated June 17 that was seen by Reuters.Western Cape province, which includes Cape Town, is the epicenter of South Africa's coronavirus outbreak…

South Africa's main export terminals will be closed to mineral exports from midnight on Thursday when a nationwide 21-day lockdown over coronavirus begins, disrupting copper supply chains linking major producer Zambia to Asian consumers.Miners in the Zambian copper belt typically transport copper overland to South Africa's ports, where it is exported mainly to China, the world's biggest consumer of the metal."All bulk terminals (mineral mining commodities) will be closed," a note from Transnet Port Terminals read, according to a shipping agent.

Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) appointed Preston Khomo, previously Richards Bay Port Manager, as Executive Manager: Ship Repair, to manage and administer the organization’s ship repair resources nationally.Thamsanqa (Thami) Sithole has been appointed as the new Port Manager for Richards Bay. Both appointments are effective July 1.Khomo joined TNPA in 2004 as Head of Infrastructure Development: Port Operations and Consulting at Portcon (the then international arm of Transnet)…

The joint effort undertaken by a Disaster Management team at the Port of Ngqura has helped to avert a potential maritime disaster and ultimately saved the container vessel APL Austria, which caught fire last weekend. Transnet National Ports Authority, Transnet Port Terminals, the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Fire Department, South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA), South African Police Services (SAPS), National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) and a stevedoring company, worked together to battle the blaze, and the fire was eventually extinguished on Wednesday, February 15.

Kalmar has won a large order to supply 23 diesel-electric straddle carriers to Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) Durban Pier 2, a dedicated straddle carrier operation in South Africa currently handling a throughput of 2.6 million TEU. The contract also includes a delivery of a straddle carrier simulator, which will be used for training purposes at the site. The order was booked in Cargotec's 2016 third quarter order intake with deliveries scheduled to be completed in 2017. Thandi Sabelo, Acting General Manager for Procurement at TPT said "Kalmar fulfilled our requirements and was able to provide a solution that supports our efforts to develop the local capability and enhance sustainability within our workforce, through training capabilities and technological knowhow.

Kalmar, part of Cargotec, has implemented the Kalmar SmartStack solution at Durban Container Terminal (DCT) in South Africa for real-time container inventory reporting and management. This is the first terminal to implement Kalmar SmartStack using the narrowband communication network involving re-engineering from the standard WiFi deployment. DCT is currently running 11 Kalmar straddle carriers with SmartStack and further eight are to be phased in over the coming weeks. In addition, 11 Terex straddle carriers will be phased into the SmartStack solution and are currently undergoing equipment testing trials by the customer. The final machines to integrate with the solution in this project are two Kalmar empty container handlers.

Terex Port Solutions (TPS) has strengthened its presence in the largest container terminal in Africa. Two Terex® rail-mounted gantry cranes (RMGs) are now in operation at Durban Container Terminal, run by Transnet Port Terminals (TPT), a subsidiary of state-owned Transnet SOC Limited. The new Terex RMGs are each equipped with a rotating trolley and have a span of 22.5 m, a lifting height of 11 m and a lifting capacity of 41 t under spreader. Powered by the terminal's electricity supply, they serve the rail terminal on pier 2 where they are replacing two 25-year-old cranes. By supplying these new cranes, TPS continues to expand its ongoing business relationship with TPT.

Kalmar, part of Cargotec, has gained a breakthrough order to supply ten straddle carriers to Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) Durban Pier 2, a dedicated straddle carrier operation in South Africa currently handling a throughput of 2.4 million TEU. TPT is a division of the government-owned Transnet SOC Limited currently pursuing a R300 billion capital investment programme over seven years and now in its third year of execution. The order was booked into Cargotec's first quarter intake 2014 with deliveries scheduled to be completed by October 2014. Anton Burchell, Managing Director, Kalmar South Africa, said: "We are delighted to be selected as the preferred supplier on this important contract, in spite of considerable competition.

Liebherr Africa announced the awarding of a contract for the supply of four STS and 18 RTG cranes to Transnet Port Terminals. The order will be fulfilled with the assistance of Liebherr Container Cranes in Ireland. In the last two years, Liebherr delivered nine mobile harbor cranes to Transnet, which brought their fleet to 13. In addition Liebherr Container Cranes Ltd. delivered two ship to shore container cranes to Ngqura Container Terminal in 2012. The ship to shore cranes in this order will bring the total number of Liebherr ship to shore cranes operated by Transnet Port Terminals to 31.

Navis SPARCS N4 Terminal Operating System (TOS) reaches critical milestone with 100 terminals globally. Navis, a part of Cargotec Corporation and the global technology standard for managing the movement of cargo through terminals, has reached a critical milestone as more than 100 of the world’s leading terminals have named Navis SPARCS N4 as their official terminal operating system (TOS) of record. To date, 107 sites in 47 countries have committed to the SPARCS N4 terminal operating system, 63 of which are currently live. “In just a few short years, SPARCS N4 has evolved from a ‘nice to have’ technology platform, to one that is essential for remaining operationally agile, profitable and successful in this highly competitive marketplace,” said Bill Walsh, president and CEO of Navis.

Port operator Transnet Port Terminals (TPT)  made history when it took delivery of three brand new ZPMC tandem lift ship-to-shore (STS) cranes that are the first of their kind in Africa. The state-of-the-art equipment will revive the Durban Container Terminal (DCT) and result in improved efficiencies and reduced service times for vessels calling at the terminal. TPT’s Acting Chief Executive, Pru Archary says, “Today we celebrate a milestone with the delivery of three mega cranes, the largest of their kind deployed at any container terminal in the Southern Hemisphere.

The East London multi-purpose terminals operated by Transnet Port Terminals have celebrated a historical moment this month when it took delivery of a new Liebherr mobile crane. The MV Annette vessel discharged the crane as a semi-assembled unit, which will be assembled by a team of engineers on site. “It is indeed an exciting moment for the East London terminals as this is a historical moment where East London received its first ever mobile crane. This also reaffirms Transnet’s commitment to increasing economic activity in this region,” says Siya Mhlaluka, TPT’s GM: Eastern Cape Terminals.

Arrival of a pneumatic ship unloader at Richards Bay, South Africa, bulk terminal marks start of equipment renewal project. Port operator Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) has earmarked the biggest slice of its R33-billion budget over the next seven years for new equipment acquisition projects at Richards Bay, the country’s largest bulk export facility. The arrival of one of the terminal’s largest assets, a custom-built pneumatic ship unloader produced by Swiss shipping manufacturer, Rio Tinto Alcan (RTA) Alesa Engineering Ltd. sends a powerful signal of Richards Bay modernisation project.

Transnet SOC is South Africa's national transport arm and the governing body for the country's rail, pipelines, ports and terminals. During his keynote address, Molefe will discuss Transnet's recently announced, four-point growth strategy, which includes plans to invest R110.6 billion (US$12.9 billion) in new rail equipment, the widening and deepening of ports and building a new pipeline to solve South Africa's infrastructure challenges. Molefe is a South African businessman who has also worked in the office of the premier in the Limpopo, where he was responsible for strategic planning.

South Africa’s state-owned freight transport and logistics giant Transnet Limited today celebrated a significant milestone in its R5.4 billion expansion of the Cape Town Container Terminal. On completion, the five-year project will double the terminal’s capacity to 1, 4 million TEUs per annum. Speaking at a ceremony attended by Public Enterprises Minister, Mr Malusi Gigaba, Group Chief Executive, Mr Brian Molefe, announced the company had completed major dredging, deepening and refurbishment work at Berth 602, the second of four berths to undergo such upgrades.

[CAPE TOWN – 31 March 2011]  The end of March should see a subsiding of the vicious south-easterly wind that has plagued the Cape and put Cape Town container terminal under serious pressure to keep cargo moving over the last few months. Just the first three months of 2011 have already seen 62 separate wind stoppages totalling 551 hours at the terminal – more than half of 2010’s full total of 964 hours lost to wind over 83 separate occasions. Around nine days or 219 hours were lost to wind in January, 220 hours in February and 101 in March.

On Feb. 5, NICE Systems (NASDAQ: NICE), announced that Transnet Port Terminals, the largest cargo terminal operator in South Africa, is expanding NICE's IP video surveillance environment at Durban Car Terminal and Ngqura, for a total of five port terminals. The new project is part of a national security upgrade initiative designed to improve security at South Africa's commercial ports and ensure compliance with the government's Key Points and Strategic Installations regulations for the security of national critical infrastructure sites. Transnet Port Terminals, South Africa's largest cargo terminal operator, operates 16 terminals at seven of the country's busiest commercial ports.

When the Zhen Hua No.23 entered Durban harbour in South Africa on Saturday, 11 April 2009 around 0700, it attracted considerable attention due to its immense size of 804 ft long and its beam of 131 ft. Equally interesting were the six pre-assembled harbour cranes weighing a total of 2,540 tonnes onboard the vessel. The vessel is purpose-built to transport abnormal project cargo. Its cargo included two rail mounted gantry (RMG) cranes weighing 285 tonnes each and purchased by Transnet Port Terminals for R36 million apiece. The cranes will be used to improve port-rail efficiency within the busy Pier 1 container terminal. The vessel also carried four ship-to-shore cranes weighing 985 tonnes each, destined for the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

The Cape Town container terminal’s R4.2 billion expansion project has seen several milestones for the port in recent months, and the upward trajectory is set to continue as the country’s second largest container terminal ramps up its capacity over the next five years. Oscar Borchards, Transnet Port Terminals’ Business Unit Executive, said ongoing expansion works and procurement of state-of-the-art equipment would ensure the facility is better prepared when the global market picks up again in the near future. “In May we took delivery of four rubber-tyred gantry cranes (RTGs) manufactured by Kalmar Industries. By the end of the expansion programme…

Transnet Port Terminal reports that its R5.6 billion, five-year investment plan aimed at increasing the capacity of the Cape Town Container Terminal is progressing according to schedule. Under its reconfiguration program on the long quay, the container stacking yard is being converted from a straddle carrier operation to a rubber tired gantry (RTG) operation. Over the past six months, 16 RTGs have been phased into the terminal and a further 16 RTGs are earmarked to arrive in the second half of this year.