Protocols to be reviewed regarding congestion near Durban Port

TRANSNET National Ports Authority (TNPA) has called for all businesses in the port to revise protocols around giving early warnings of any business disruptions so that Transnet can notify other port users and the public of congestion incidents.

This comes after severe truck congestion in the Bayhead, Island View and Maydon Wharf precincts of the Port of Durban on Monday and Tuesday last week.TNPA confirmed that the congestion had been 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.

General manager at the Port of Durban, Moshe Motlohi, said: “I would like to express our gratitude to Metro Police and SAPS 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.”

ALSO READ: Task team explores solutions to reduce congestion at Durban port

Motlohi said the Port of Durban Decongestion Task Team is exploring a number of back of port solutions to reduce bottlenecks in the Bayhead Precinct.These include synchronising the operating hours of back of port container depots with the port’s 24/7 operating hours, and introducing a holistic truck booking system that could provide an integrated view of expected truck volumes in order for all parties to plan more effectively.

The multi-disciplinary task team is collaborating on efforts to alleviate congestion at the Port of Durban and its surrounding road networks, which negatively impact communities in and around the port?s Bayhead Precinct, such as Umbilo and Glenwood.

Motlohi, who chairs the team of private and public sector entities, said TPNA, as the port landlord, is motivating through the 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 when not to send vehicles to the port. He said there was also a joint planning meeting with businesses on 20 August to address the issue.

ALSO READ: Durban harbour communities dealt another blow

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

The Port of Durban Decongestion Task Team involves a broad range of private and public sector organisations involved in the port.

Through nine targeted workstreams the task team has adopted an integrated approach to tackle the root causes of Bayhead traffic-related congestion and to ensure improved coordination, planning, operations, cargo flows and capacity.

Caxton Local Media Covid-19 reporting

Dear reader,

As your local news provider, we have the duty of keeping you factually informed on Covid-19 developments. As you may have noticed, mis- and disinformation (also known as “fake news”) is circulating online. Caxton Local Media is determined to filter through the masses of information doing the rounds and to separate truth from untruth in order to keep you adequately informed. Local newsrooms follow a strict pre-publication fact-checking protocol. A national task team has been established to assist in bringing you credible news reports on Covid-19.

Readers with any comments or queries may contact National Group Editor Irma Green (irma@caxton.co.za) or Legal Adviser Helene Eloff (helene@caxton.co.za).

At the time of going to press, the contents of this feature mirrored South Africa’s lockdown regulations.

Do you want to receive news alerts via Telegram? Send us a message (not an sms) with your name and surname to 060 532 5535.

You can also join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

PLEASE NOTE: If you have signed up for our news alerts you need to save the Berea Mail Telegram number as a contact to your phone, otherwise you will not receive our alerts

Here’s where you can download Telegram on Android or Apple