In an effort to address congestion at the container terminal at the Port of Cape Town, the provincial Department of Economic Development and Tourism held a meeting with stakeholders at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on Thursday December 5, where a task team was nominated to deal with these issues.
Stakeholders included exporters and importers, trucking companies, the respective divisions of Transnet, Navis, SARS and shipping lines.
At the meeting, officials from the department presented on the root causes of congestion, which included, port capacity, and the traffic flow of trucks carrying containers into and out of the port.
The MEC for Economic Opportunities, David Maynier, said these issues, among others, were impacting on the costs and efficiencies of the logistics and export industries, and were impeding economic growth and job creation in the Western Cape.
The urgency of addressing the congestion issues at the Port of Cape Town was agreed by all, and a task team was nominated, comprising of 10 senior representatives from the port logistics chain.
The task team will have 10 priority issues to deal with, ranging from a shortage of cranes to traffic flows and effective communications throughout the logistics chain.
Synchronisation of working hours in the logistics chain will also be addressed.
Mr Maynier said he had requested the task team to meet within two weeks and to implement the first remedial actions within three months.
The group will be reconvened in 2020 to provide feedback on the progress of the task team and to expand the scope of remedial action beyond the container terminal at the Port of Cape Town.