Johannesburg: AfricUpdate – News Desk
Transport Minister Barbara Creecy has lauded Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) for significantly improving performance since June 2025 by consistently averaging over 90 000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) per week. This is compared to 65 000 TEUs per week for the same period last year.
A determined focus on improved loading and offloading rates by TPT has resulted in a year-on-year container volume increase of 7.2% at the end of August 2025. In the week ended 20 July 2025, a historic 101 295 TEUs were handled across the entity’s container terminals. TPT recorded the all-time record in the 2014/2015 financial year when it handled 105 650 TEUs in a single week.
“This improved performance gives us hope that trans-shipment volumes we lost during the 2023/2024 year will return in due course to our ports ensuring both job retention and future job creation for our maritime economy,” the Minister said on Sunday. These results can be traced back to the four main initiatives namely: injection of new equipment, including nine rubber–tyred gantry (RTG) cranes for the Durban Container Terminal Pier 1; 20 straddle carriers for the Durban Container Terminal Pier 2; a ship-to-shore crane for the Port Elizabeth Container Terminal and over 200 haulers and trailers for all container terminals.
Other contributing factors include focused maintenance which has resulted in reduced breakdowns and increased uptime of equipment; process improvements; and various people management initiatives such as the introduction of a fourth shift to ensure employee wellbeing for improved performance, and a new incentive scheme.
“This milestone is a direct result of unprecedented collaboration between TPT, labour partners, shipping lines, cargo owners, and logistics stakeholders. The synergy across these groups has enabled a seamless flow of operations, with vessels now berthing on arrival across all terminals, which is a significant achievement considering the backlog challenges faced in 2023,” TPT Chief Executive, Jabu Mdaki said. Other efforts have included focused maintenance, ensuring spares availability, employing process improvement initiatives and developing a container performance dashboard that shows real time performance.
