The human and economical impact in the aftermath of the partial collapse of the Ezimbokodweni River Bridge has hit the logistics sector hard.
The bridge cracked on the N2 southbound on November 4. The N2 south between Joyner Road and Dickens Road has been closed since the incident.
Backlogged traffic has resulted in an hour-and-a-half time delay in operations, said Thiru Chetty, the owner of a logistics company based in Durban.
Chetty’s company, Good Life Logistics, frequents the Southgate Business Park in Amanzimtoti. He said the impact had started to take a toll on his eight drivers.
“Our business has been affected in a few ways but I think the biggest are the added safety risk for the drivers and the time delays, which affects the entire supply chain," said Chetty.
"The traffic to get to the Southgate Business Park is just mad. We usually leave the yard at 7am to get to the park to pick up a load but now the drivers leave at 5.30am.
“The driver then has to load the truck and leave the business park and again, sit in traffic before getting to the destination, offloading and bringing the truck back home to the yard.
"The deliveries are also late, so the customers also feel the effects of this. Besides drive time, the routes we use are not fuel-friendly and not suitable for our Superlink trucks.
"The trucks sit in traffic on these small roads and burn more diesel, which is another cost to us. It has been pretty difficult to quantify the fuel costs but the time delays since this began has been between an hour-and-a-half to two hours."
The third generation owner of a plant hire company, who declined to be named, said the added traffic time placed his drivers at increased risk.
The business owner said they delivered earth-moving machinery to the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal, to areas like uMzinto, uMkomaas and Port Shepstone.
“We have noticed a time delay of around three hours in our operation. During our most recent trip, our driver left the yard at 6.30am and only got to uMzinto at 12pm. The peak hours on a Monday and Friday are much worse. We can’t deliver the machines on time to the south coast but our customers are patient with us because they know about the bridge's partial collapse."
The business owner said time was money in this business "and everything has been intensified".
"We have to pay our drivers overtime and there are extra fuel costs but, most importantly, the human impact has been quite bad. The drivers now have a longer working day of three hours, so do the mechanics. The driver’s rest time has also decreased, so they are at an added risk. They only get back to the yard by 10pm nowadays and have to go back the next day."
Aven Naidoo, an executive member of Professional Freight Solutions, an organisation made up of a group of logistics companies, said they have started a relief system for drivers.
Naidoo said the bridge incident had pushed logistics companies from “a trip a day to three trips a week” because of time delays.
“In essence, what the bridge collapse did was put businesses out of commission because of how heavily the time delays have impacted operations. For instance, if you normally leave for the south coast by 8am, you generally get there by 11am. Trucks are now arriving around 2 or 3pm and still have to offload.
"What’s worse, is the companies deliver to close by 2pm or stop receiving by 2pm then the driver has to stay over, offload in the morning and make their way back home.
“It is also an added risk for the drivers themselves because of the amount of time they spend on the road. Sitting in traffic for three hours is not easy. Asking someone to perform physical labour after sitting for three hours in traffic is not a nice thing. It is also impacting their bodies. We had to start a relief service where we send one driver out to get the truck, so the other driver can come back home."
According to South African National Roads Agency (Sanral), the partial bridge collapse was as a result of the failure of span four of the bridge caused by the malfunctioning of its bearings, particularly the concrete rocker bearing on the east side, and the central bearings.
The bridge was built in the early 1960s and spans a total of 137.16 metres.
Sanral said the vibrations, along with potential age-related deterioration, likely caused spalling and cracking of the concrete. Repairs were set for two phases.
The roads agency said it was working on a temporary measure to have the bridge ready by December. The second phase of the repair is expected to begin in January 2025, when the bearings would be replaced.
On Friday, President Cyril Ramaphosa visited the bridge to inspect repair progress. Transport Minister Barbara Creecy, Deputy Transport Minister Mkhuleko Hlengwa, and SANRAL CEO Reginald Demana attended.
Creecy said: “I'm told by the engineers that even when the permanent solution is being put in place, we won't experience another closure such as this one. We will be able to work on this bridge by installing the permanent solution during night-time closures.”
Demana added: “What we have seen is that there is damage to the support pillar and the concrete bearings. We need to replace the bearings. We are going to use modern technology, which means putting in steel bearings. The bridge was built in the 1960s, so it’s quite old and was built using old technology we no longer use.”