Traffic was free flowing in the Bayhead, Island View and Maydon Wharf precincts of the Port of Durban on Wednesday, August 19, after severe truck congestion on Monday and Tuesday, the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) reports.

TNPA confirms that the congestion was related to the operation of a private bulk terminal operator located in Island View.

Following urgent liaison with the affected terminal’s senior management and discussions in the port’s daily virtual stakeholder operations meetings, other terminal operators volunteered to open up their own staging areas to move trucks off the road.

“I would like to express our gratitude to the Metro Police and South African Police Services for the sterling job done in ensuring that the port remained accessible during the congestion. Also, we appreciate the spirit of joint problem solving demonstrated by other terminal operators who volunteered their skills in resolving the issue,” says Port of Durban GM Moshe Motlohi.

In recent days, tipper trucks have been seen queuing on Bayhead road and affecting other traffic and facilities including container trucks destined for the Durban Container Terminal.

Last week severe congestion occurred in the area owing to two incidents in quick succession.

On Monday, August 10, an overturned container truck on Bayhead road and a network outage at the same private bulk terminal affected three of their truck loading bays and severely hampered their operation.

TNPA has called for all businesses in the port to revise their protocols around giving early warnings of any business disruptions so that Transnet can sensitise other port users and the public of congestion incidents.

“As the port landlord, TNPA is motivating through the Port of Durban Decongestion Task Team for all terminals to have a booking system that will give port users full visibility of cargo handling equipment deployed and truck volumes so that they can plan when and where not to send vehicles to the port,” says Motlohi.

He adds that there will be a joint planning meeting with businesses in the Cutler Complex on August 20. 

Container terminal operator Transnet Port Terminals has also made provision for container trucks that have missed their scheduled slots in the Transnet booking system owing to Bayhead congestion incidents to be accommodated in its staging area until they can be serviced.