Research Articles (Logistics)

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Browsing Research Articles (Logistics) by Subject "Business logistics -- Cape Town (South Africa)"

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    Maintaining cold chain integrity : temperature breaks within fruit reefer containers in the Cape Town Container Terminal
    (University of South Africa, 2017) Goedhals-Gerber, Leila L.; Stander, C.; Van Dyk, F. E.
    South Africa is among the top 10 fruit-exporting countries in the world. The South African fruit industry has identifi ed temperature breaks along the fruit export cold chain that result in the deterioration of fruit quality, loss of market credibility, and fi nancial losses. Seventy percent (70%) of South African fruit exports are shipped through the Cape Town Container Terminal (CTCT). This in-depth case study provides a better understanding of the signifi cant challenges within the CTCT. This research revealed that 81% of the temperature breaks in fruit reefer containers carrying summer fruit originate within the CTCT. The average time for a reefer container to be plugged in from when it enters the port is 1 hour and 52 minutes; almost three times higher than the 40-minute goal time. Only one-fi fth of containers experienced no temperature breaks, while almost a quarter never cooled down to the target temperature. Operational issues that need to be addressed have been identifi ed, such as the increased use of gensets, improved scheduling for arrival at the CTCT, and training of port personnel as to the correct standards for cold chain management. There is, however, also a need for improved collaboration between the producers, fruit exporters, logistics service providers, the CTCT, and shipping lines to enable end-to-end integrity of the cold chain. The latter will be the subject of future research.
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    Predicting the throughput of grain products at the multipurpose terminal at the Port of Cape Town
    (AOSIS Publishing, 2016) Goedhals-Gerber, Leila L.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY : Background: Ports provide vital links in the maritime supply chains on which the trading of countries depend, and their efficiency and performance can contribute largely to the international competitiveness of those countries. However, to achieve and maintain such a contribution, port operators need to understand their role in a national economy and the factors that underlie the efficiency of the intermodal link that ports constitute in international supply chains. One such factor is the capacity of specialised cargo terminals. Objectives: This article described a possible technique for forecasting the throughput of grain imports through the bulk grain terminal at the Port of Cape Town. It determined whether the capacity in the bulk grain terminal is sufficient to handle current and forecasted volumes of imported grains or whether the volumes justify expansion or upgrading of the bulk grain terminal in the Port of Cape Town. Method: The Box–Jenkins methodology for autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models was applied. An ARIMA model – 2 parameter, 1 difference – was selected to do the forecast. Results: The average tonnage of all grains imported through the Port of Cape Town that can be expected in a month is approximately 90 000 tons. The maximum tonnage of all grains imported through the Port of Cape Town that can be expected in a month is approximately 180 000 tons. Conclusion: The analyses show that the demand for imports of grain products at the multipurpose terminal in the Port of Cape Town is not growing substantially. The analyses also identify that the current upper limits of grain imports are within the existing handling and storage capacities of the bulk grain terminal.