An assessment of port productivity at South African container port terminals.
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Date
2015
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Abstract
The increasing intermodal sophistication and globalisation of the international
container shipping industry, as well as increased competition on container throughput
between major ports, requires container terminals to continuously improve their
efficiency in relation to productivity and performance. This dissertation seeks to
examine and analyse productivity data over a period of time, in order to determine
port productivity trends at three main container terminals in South Africa. Given the
existing infrastructure and available resources at the container port terminals, the
research further analyses the gaps between expected or targeted performance against
actual productivity trends to date. It further tests current performance levels against
international benchmarks and makes recommendation on productivity optimisation
and best practice. This study is motivated by the rapid development and a dire need in
container terminal port operations to provide efficient and effective services as well as
high port productivity. In South Africa, port productivity is still seen as suboptimal in
global terms and it is for this reason that South African container terminals continue
to seek improvement in achieving quicker port turnaround times. The literature
review highlights thoughts and opinions on previous research as far as the formula for
efficient and effective port productivity is concerned. When measuring port
productivity, a number of factors need strategic integrations and a balanced approach.
These include ship turnaround times, port superstructure performance, stowage plans,
labour dynamics, information flow between various stakeholders, yard management
and cost of operations. This research identifies crane performance and ship work-rate
performance as the major indicators of productivity at the respective terminals. In the
South African port terminals context, these two indicators were lower than targeted
for. This is due to a number of reasons including lack of the full utilization of the
current crane regime, equipment downtime, poor coordination between the operator
and shippers, inefficient landside operations as well as labour inefficiency. This study
therefore recommends that the port terminal operator should put the current
infrastructure into full utilization, adhere to maintenance schedules of all terminal
equipment with improved training regimes within a more skilled labour force. There
is a need to enhance landside capacity and layout. This research contends that this
would contribute towards shorter port stays and improved vessel turnaround times.
Description
Master of Science in Maritime studies. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville 2015.
Keywords
Marine terminals--South Africa--Durban--Management., Harbors--South Africa--Durban., Cargo handling--Management., Loading and unloading--South Africa--Durban--Management., Containerization--South Africa--Durban--Management., Theses--Maritime studies., Port productivity.