FROM MAGAZINE : Transnet Port Terminals eyes global top five spot

Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) is South Africa’s leading terminal operator responsible for loading and offloading cargo aboard vessels calling the seven South African ports. A division of state owned entity Transnet, TPT’s operations target four major market sectors namely: automotive, containers, bulk and break bulk. TPT under the leadership of its Chief Executive Nozipho Sithole is set to be in the world’s top 5 in the next five years. The position of the South Africa’s port system enables it access to South-South trade, Far East trade, Europe & USA, East & West Africa regional trade.

At TPS, Sithole leads the ambitious plan to roll out the new Transnet 4.0 strategy which is aimed at repositioning the business as a facilitator of trade and among the world’s top five in the next five years. Current plans are focused on geographic expansion, service innovation and diversification aided by competitive approaches hinted by the fourth industrial revolution.

While the company previously operated a total of 16 port terminals across South Africa’s seven commercial ports, their growth plans and service innovations have led Transnet Port Terminals to now operate an additional three terminals inland.

“Historically our parameters ended at the port however we have introduced new customer service points and are now operating inland terminals. This has also helped us to better plan and execute across the logistics supply chain because Transnet’s uniqueness of operating port terminals, rail and port operations enable planning from pit to port for both the convenience of the customer as well as for reduced cost of doing business,” said Sithole, a graduate of the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa

The inland terminals Pendoring, NewCon as well as Lohatlha support the company’s mission of delivering solutions, a strategic objective of Transnet 4.0.

The need for efficiency and agility in turning around vessels is at the core of Top 5 in 5. One recent initiative has seen the Port Elizabeth Multi-Purpose Terminal (PE MPT) introduce a rotating spreader which offloads manganese at a much quicker pace than the skiptainer. Not far from PE MPT is the country’s transshipment Ngqura Container Terminal (NCT), where a new platform has been introduced to ease traffic going in and out of the terminal. This means that trucks are auto-clocked in and out of the terminal, without having to be manually processed, which often consumes a lot of time.

Similarly, the auto sector has also piloted the Service Instruction Entry (SIE) automated system which was developed in-house to improve the speed at which trading partners, Transnet Port Terminals and its customers receive and exchange information, greatly reducing end-to-end cycle times. Further advantages to this system is the cost-cutting benefit that is normally associated with the current paper-driven process (i.e. processing of import and export shipping documentation that is performed manually). The operational expenditure and storing, printing paper and cost of manual data capturing are now a thing of the past with the introduction of SIE. The company also makes use of world class, state of the art systems like the container tracking system Navis and the Transnet Port Terminals internally developed GCOS which tracks bulk and break bulk cargo and – is available for sale to other terminal operators.

“Delivering world class terminal operations is about having the right skill and attitude in the right place,” says Sithole. Having announced a strategy to transform Transnet Port Terminals into a leading global port operator, Sithole has been focused on establishing a high-performance team in her first year. The company is introducing an employee exchange programme in partnership with its customers who operate world class terminals around the world. Transnet has adopted the lean six sigma methodology as part of a bigger strategy to reduce waste and variability to achieve consistency in its performance.

As the operator of many of the busiest and most modern ports on the continent, Transnet Port Terminals have a goal of partnering with terminal operators elsewhere in Africa. The company has already started making inroads on the continent after venturing into the West African country of Benin, where they reconfigured the terminal yard of the Port of Cotonou as well as automated their systems through digitalisation.

“We see partnership opportunities in countries like Senegal, Liberia, Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya, as well as our Southern African Development Community (SADC) neighbours” says Sithole.

Considerable investment is being made in most of the major port gateways on the continent.

Sithole notes that the next challenge is linking the ports to the hinterlands they serve, which includes what are now known as the 16 “land-linked” (previously land-locked) countries. The signing of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement has been a long time coming. And when it happened, its significance seems to have been largely underestimated.

“It’s time our captains of business got serious about seizing the intra-African trade initiative before multinationals start thinking about recolonization” says Sithole.

Often when ports and terminals are rated worldwide, throughput is the only parameter that is considered and according to Sithole – volumes are as important as safety, asset utilization, customer service and berth productivity. “It’s a combination of elements and one cannot be without the other and so each one deserves attention” she says adding that how TPT performs on each one five years from now, will land it in the top 5.