Durban - The Road Freight Association and trucking companies say strong winds caused disruptions in operations at the Durban port over the past few days, resulting in trucks being unable to load and offload.
This led to queues of trucks on roads near the port and surrounding areas.
Gavin Kelly, the chief executive of the Road Freight Association, said the port was windbound on Tuesday (could not operate), therefore a massive backlog of trucks had occurred.
“There are masses of trucks in Bayhead and Mayfern roads.”
Kelly said trucks were parked everywhere, which was not helping matters.
“This is the unfortunate state of affairs we have raised previously. There seems to be no alternatives for vehicle stacking (parking) outside the port where there would be no effect on other roads and traffic. There has been the added problem of protesters taking advantage of the traffic congestion and delays – which has had an added effect of causing delays.”
Chris Moodley, the director of freight company KZN Customs Clearing and Forwarding, said the port had been windbound for the past few days, leading to trucks not being able to load or offload.
“Neither can they handle any vessel loading/offloading. More significantly they are issuing bookings to transporters, but cannot handle the truck processing at the port. Roads are all gridlocked due to poor systems and management at the port.”
Garrith Jamieson, the director of Advanced Life Support (ALS) paramedics, said trucks were blocking all access to the Bluff and the harbour.
“ALS Paramedics have been finding it extremely difficult to respond to emergencies on the Bluff and harbour area since Monday. Trucks are stacked all the way around the port. This is causing major traffic jams. All entries towards the Bluff are obstructed by trucks occupying all the available lanes.” Jamieson said yesterday morning that paramedics battled to get to a shooting scene where a security official had been injured.
Municipal spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said metro police officers had been mobilised to all affected roads to manage the traffic flow.
“EThekwini Municipality is aware of the congestion on roads leading to the harbour. Road users and the public are urged to alert the city if there is traffic back-up anywhere in eThekwini.”
Mayisela said truck drivers blocking roads in residential areas were warned to refrain from doing so, or risked facing the full might of the law.
“This includes having their vehicles, that obstruct other road users, impounded. To mitigate traffic congestion, the city is in constant communication with stakeholders in this regard, chief among them being Transnet.”
Transnet Port Terminals was contacted by The Mercury, but by the time of publication the parastatal had not responded.