Following a wage-related strike at State-owned freight utility Transnet, petrochemicals giant Sasol says it is not yet able to quantify the impact on its South African value chains.
The industrial action resulted in a railway standstill from October 6 to 17 and the extent of backlogs remains uncertain.
Sasol had received a force majeure notice from Transnet, which impacted the movement of certain feedstocks and products between Sasol’s inland operations and the ports of Durban and Richards Bay.
In turn, Sasol had to declare force majeure on the local supply and export of certain chemical products, with production rates at selected plants in Secunda and Sasolburg having been impacted.
Following negotiations between Transnet and its majority trade union, United National Transport Union (UNTU) , on October 17, port and rail activities have restarted, with particular priority having been given to the discharge of container ships in the harbours.
Transnet confirmed on October 19 that worker activity was at 80% as operations started ramping up, with UNTU members returning to work. Employees who are members of the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu), however, remained on strike.
Transnet announced late on October 19 that it had finally been able to secure a wage agreement with Satawu as well and that workers were due to resume their duties from October 20.
Meanwhile, Sasol has also advised in a production update for the three months ended September 30, that a fire had occurred at the new Ziegler alcohol unit, at the group’s Lake Charles Chemicals Complex, in the US.
The fire had been contained quickly, with no injuries reported.
Sasol has launched an investigation to determine the cause of the fire, the extent of the damage and the timeline of repair at the complex.