Cato Ridge staging depot gains ground

There are signs of practical progress towards the establishment of a staging depot outside the Port of Durban with a dedicated freight corridor providing speedy transit between port and depot. This follows the recent publication of a tender by the eThekwini Transport Authority inviting interested parties to undertake a route location and traffic impact study for a new road-based freight corridor between the Port of Durban and Cato Ridge. And a sustainable solution to the access problem may well require that such a corridor be segregated from other roads in the vicinity of the port, according to an industry source. With road congestion outside the Port of Durban showing little sign of resolution, there’s been strong support for the establishment of a staging depot outside the port. It has been under consideration for some time both by Transnet and Ethekwini, with Cato Ridge the preferred site. If a way can be found to segregate a port access corridor from the surrounding city roads, this could well address the perennial congestion problem resulting from conflict between port and city traffic, in the view of our source. According to the tender, the broad scope of the work includes a route location investigation for a dedicated freight route and preliminary route alignments, along with implementation phasing, cost estimates and financial feasibility. A traffic impact study and environmental screening assessment are also part of tender requirements. A briefing session was held last Tuesday for all interested parties.