vessels is between 24 and 48 hours; for break bulk it
is between 18 and 20 hours. Regular calls of Ro-Ro
vessels are now contributing to this business, which
has brought the importance of the bulk berths into
the spotlight.
With the ever-growing importance of equipment
availability on operational effiiency, the aspect
of suffiient and effective utilization of deployed
equipment cannot be overstressed, nor be ignored,
as it has a direct impact on the productivity and
throughput of the bulk and break bulk terminal.
As the port’s equipment is aging at the same time that
business is growing, the author deemed it appropriate
to examine the impact of equipment availability as an
element of operational effiiency.
The problem researched in this study addresses
two of the fie strategic outcomes of Namport:
increasing the throughput and improving the port’s
effiiency.
The focus of this study was not the turnaround time
of vessels at the Break Bulk Terminal (BBT), but rather
the consistency and quality of services provided
while vessels are on the berth. The author set out
to determine if the equipment at BBT is appropriate
and suffiient and deployed to ensure operational
effectiveness, if the maintenance strategies are
conducive to meet operational demands and to
establish whether or not equipment operators have
the required skills for their job.