Carriers turn to Ramos over ‘untenable’ Durban congestion

IN A letter to Transnet CEO, Maria Ramos, the Durban harbour carriers’ division of the SA Association of Freight Forwarders (Saaff) has expressed a vote of no-confidence in the management of the Port of Durban. Said carriers’ chairman, Malcolm Sodalay, MD of road transporters Sammar Investments: “The situation from a road transport perspective in the Port of Durban has become completely untenable. “Our complaints to management at both Durban container terminal (DCT) and Pier 1 appear to fall on deaf ears. They are either unwilling or unable to alleviate the almost permanent state of truck congestion which is costing transporters and the economy millions of rands per day in loss of productivity and wasted fuel.” The last two weeks – and offpeak truck delays of up to 10 hours a vehicle, a figure confirmed by the Saponet website – have raised ire amongst container truckers, who are all working extra-slim margins. The carriers’ association even revealed that they had information that “some owner-driver operators are planning a blockade of the port entrance, as they are being put out of business by these delays,” according to Sodalay.. But, although some members felt that the letter to Ramos was possibly a sledgehammer tactic, it did receive an instantaneous reaction from the top of Transnet, according to carriers’ vicechairman, Kevin Martin, MD of Freightliner. “Ramos immediately came back to us, and told us that she had sent our complaints on down the line,” he told FTW. “The port management we deal with called a high-level emergency meeting, and we managed to get a few of our points across. “They realised that what would have been a molehill last year is a Mount Everest this year for us, because margins are so tight.” But, Martin added, it’s looking good going forward. There was no response from port management before FTW went to print.