Container volumes increase sees Rennies Consolidated beef up its muscle

Dec 01, 2023

Posted by Mandisa Rasmeni | Nov 8, 2022 | Wheels & Wings

Rennies Consolidated Depot team, which is part of Manica Group Namibia recently received their brand new Konecranes empty container handler from Forklift and Allied Equipment in Walvis Bay.

Terminal Supervisor, Benjamin Paulus said it was necessary to obtain another machine as container volumes have increased considerably at the depot.

"With more than an average of 2500 containers stored on site, and up to 300 trucks loading and offloading containers daily, the pressure on the current equipment is intense.

The new empty handler will improve productivity and ease some of the container movement, relieve pressure on our other aging machines, our container repairs, and the daily container stacking," added Paulus.

In 2021 traffic congestion of trucks queuing of trucks along Hanna Mupetami Road, at the main Rennies gate, was solved with a dedicated entrance and exit. Rennies has also made several other internal improvements that contributed to the ongoing process of simplifying container depot operations.

Operations Manager of Rennies Consolidated, Mark Dafel said they are proud to have started training women as container handlers and forklift drivers.

"We recently appointed two more women specifically as forklift drivers, with similar recruitments to come, and others on the team are quickly learning how to handle these machines. It is very satisfying and heartwarming to see staff take ownership of their work areas and put in the effort to keep our operations running efficiently," said Dafel.

The Rennies team has already christened the new empty handler ‘MERAKI’ which means, labour of love, to do something with pleasure, to do something with passion, or to do something with absolute devotion and with undivided attention, in Greek.

The new Konecranes forklift truck, is valued at N$5.5 million and has a lifting capacity of 9 tonnes, and will be used to receive and release empty containers. It was shipped to Walvis Bay on board the vessel CSCL Africa and Woker Freight Services took care of all the required customs importation and clearance documentation.

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