Pragmatism and innovation see once-obsolete area thrive
B, C and D Berths transformed into vibrant bulk, neo-bulk and multi-purpose terminal
AS MARITIME technology changed over the years, so too did the harbour and its activities. Prominent among the changes have been the activities at B, C and D Berths. During earlier years, months of intense work during the fruit season faded into more leisurely times once the last citrus shipments had been loaded, the old hatch covers had been battened down, and the last Union-Castle reefer ship of the season had sailed for Britain.
In January 1958, the pre-cooling sheds at B and C Berths were burnt to the ground at the height of the fruit season, but miraculously, were rebuilt and back in operation a year later.
The lavender-hulled reefer ships – built in the 1930s and 1940s – gave way to Safmarine’s reefer sextet, Clan Line ships and others, including some Blue Star ships loading frozen fish for Australia. Conspicuous among dozens of ships calling to load fruit at the terminal in its latter years were those powerful French-built “Snowboats” (the nickname coming from their names that bore the prefix Snow-) sporting white hulls with a large white U painted on their scarlet funnels.
Originally, boxed fruit was railed from the Boland and Olifants River valley farming areas to the docks, a process that was usurped by road transport. The facilities at the berths cooled the various types of fruit to their optimum temperature for their shipment before being loaded aboard the reefer ships, whose holds had already been cooled to the required temperature.
By the turn of this century, most fruit was being exported in refrigerated containers, rendering the former fruit pre-cooling sheds at B and C Berths obsolete.
With the ensuing major decline in fruit shipments and falling revenue, the pragmatic Terminal management who had a concession from the port authority to operate the entire facility, sought other uses for the structures. During a conversation last Friday with Nicci van Niekerk, the amiable and energetic Western & Eastern Cape CRM Manager for the FPT Group and who has seen the Terminal transform from a fruit export centre to a multi-product Terminal over the past 22 years, I heard and saw what a far-sighted company can do with what had become obsolete premises.
Berthing delays cost shipowners money, and it seemed that a niche market existed for some bulk operations, especially if ships could be berthed on arrival. That was the target market, and, with the rail links to C and B Berths still operational and good road access to the wide wharves, grain and fertiliser imports soon began passing through the former fruit berths. These commodities still form the backbone of the current operation.
Grabs, worked by ships’ cranes, dump grain or fertiliser into hoppers from which it pours into rail or road trucks standing below. Cargo volumes at the terminal – including consignments of timber and pipes – grew, and success brought more clients.
Once thronging with fruit-laden trucks and forklifts moving pallets of fruit, the silent chambers of the pre-cooling sheds were gutted to accommodate consignments of grain, fertiliser, sunflower seed, and soya bean products.
When the last bulk fruit shipments passed through D Berth’s cold storage facilities, outward to Russia and the US in 2018, that cavernous space too was modified, its facilities transformed to accommodate various consignments, such as the two-ton bags of cement, imported from Vietnam, that I saw in the storage spaces. Occasional exports of bulk citrus fruit to the US and Russia are still loaded into reefer ships, but directly from road trucks at D Berth.
A boost came last year when the multi-purpose MACS ships began using the terminal. These ships land an interestingly wide variety of cargo in Cape Town. In some vessels, three of the five hatches are longer than usual for ships of this size, ideal for the carriage of project cargo that is often bulky and awkward to handle.
Working in tandem, the ships’ cranes can lift up to 240 tons. In their holds, the newer MACS ships have multi-purpose pontoons for the stowage of heavylift cargoes in the tweendecks. The vessels also carry a variety of bulk cargoes.
Thus the arrival from Europe of
MACS ships – or those operating on the associated MACS USA Service – heralds much quayside activity as bulk cargoes, heavylifts, trucks and containers are discharged.
The Terminal has tendered for the use of the now largely vacant A Berth as well as some buildings and its large wharfage space, useful for landing project cargoes.
I found a very different scene at FPT Terminal to that which I knew when Union-Castle’s and Safmarine’s reefer ships loaded there. But I sensed pragmatism from the port authority for leasing the wharves and the backing area, and also from the Terminal operators who have boosted shipping in Cape Town.
Can this model be applied to the often empty berths from F to L Berth?