Transnet’s managing executive for the eastern region, Moshe Motlohi, said on Thursday that a “staging area” to control the flow of trucks into eThekwini is just one of a number of interventions to address truck congestion at the Port of Durban.

Transnet faced major challenges last year with truck congestion and container backlogs at the Port of Durban severely impacting the economy, but the state entity has been able to make progress with the truck booking system and an improvement in efficiency at the key harbour.

Serious truck traffic congestion, especially in the Bayhead precinct of the Port of Durban, has plagued residents for years, with trucks adding to the peak-hour traffic incidents and worsening traffic jams. Motlohi said that they were looking at having staging areas for trucks to park at Cato Ridge before they would be allowed to leave at a scheduled time for the Durban port.

“Trucks must park at Cato Ridge and we will use the system to call them, but all terminals need to be on the same page so trucks will know exactly what time they have to come to Terminal A or Terminal B and there should not be any breaches in the system.”

Motlohi said that they also need to look at traffic safety at the port.

“We are working to have more law enforcement to work with our staff so that even when trucks are coming in at night, there is a strong enforcement of traffic laws compliance. We are also looking at fencing the port and having entrance plazas so only those who are authorised can enter.”

Motlohi said they have a plan to cut down on trucks parking on pavements on Bayhead Road, near the port.

“We are finding a lot of trucks just parking at the port or on Bayhead Road and not moving. We are going to get tough on them, and we have even gone as far as to revoke permits for truck drivers that persist with this. It is a concern as it can pose a security threat. We are appealing to truck owners (to tell their drivers) not to park on Bayhead Road pavements and on traffic islands.”

Motlohi said that Bayhead Road was damaged during the April 2022 floods and in spite of repairs, a second access road to the Port of Durban was needed.

“If we have a second access road it will put less pressure on Bayhead Road, which has already suffered damage. We are estimating it will cost almost R6 billion between us and the eThekwini Municipality to develop this second access road.

We also want to expand Bayhead Road from three lanes to four lanes.”

Malcolm Hartwell, Norton Rose Fulbright director and master mariner, said one of the major choke points in the supply chain routing through Durban to and from Gauteng and other inland destinations has been getting containers in and out of the terminal.

“Widening the roads, providing another access point and staging trucks at inland ports, logically should improve the congestion along Bayhead Road. Whether it decreases standing time there or at the staging area and accordingly improves the flow of containers depends entirely on whether the terminal can handle the increased flow of trucks both for positioning export containers, removing import containers and loading and discharging ships.”

Hartwell said that if these steps “merely move the choke point to the terminal trucks, their customers will face the same delays, just in a different place”.

“Punishing road hauliers and truck drivers for a problem that has been created solely by Transnet seems vindictive and petty. The road hauliers have suffered as a result of Transnet for years.

“They have held innumerable meetings with Transnet pleading for the problems to be sorted out and making numerous suggestions which, until now, have in the main, been ignored.

“Road hauliers whose trucks are parked in Bayhead Road are not doing so by choice. We are of the view that Transnet should rather focus on removing choke points and improving their own systems than punishing road hauliers, because Transnet is forcing them to park along Bayhead Road.”

The Mercury

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