Trucking companies say that they are dealing with a massive backlog of goods at KwaZulu-Natal ports and are struggling to get bookings to load goods despite the Transnet strike coming to an end last week.
Transnet said that a force majeure, which was declared on October 6, would remain in place for now and expects the backlog in goods to be cleared by October 31.
South African Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF) CEO Juanita Maree said that enterprises have incurred logistics costs of nearly R7 billion over the 11 days of industrial action at the ports.
“While SAAFF is very pleased that an agreement has finally been reached, we must stress that the hard work only starts now, as, according to our consolidated reports, most port terminals are operating at productivity levels that are somewhere between medium and normal levels.”
Chris Moodley, the director of freight company KZN Customs Clearing and Forwarding, said there was a massive backlog of goods.
“Transnet simply can’t deal with this situation because there are not enough bookings and slots at the ports. We are stuck with massive queues and trucks unable to get to the ports. The strike may be over at Transnet. Unfortunately the struggle continues for trucking companies.”
A representative of trucking forum Positive Freight Solutions, who wished to remain anonymous, said that the situation for trucking companies was dismal.
“The situation has become such that we are now reconsidering doing business with ports as there is a massive queue of trucks at the ports and at the end we are losing business. The situation is that we have vessels unloading containers at the ports and trucks can’t get to these containers.”
Transnet spokesperson Ayanda Shezi said that Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) was implementing recovery plans to stabilise operational performance and efficiencies across its terminals, following the industrial action by employees which ended last week.
“The extent of the backlogs in the container terminals, and the resultant impact on operations, mean that the force majeure declared for the container terminals will remain in place, with TPT anticipating that it will be ready to uplift it by 31 October 2022.
“TPT’s full workforce reported for duty with effect from 20 October 2022, and the backlogs in the container terminals are being cleared as part of the recovery plans under way.”
THE MERCURY