Sources at the Port of Cape
Town’s container terminal
have added their support to
the anti-truck ban lobby.
“A big part of our operation
is around the fruit industry
and they work in the early
hours of the morning. It
would be pointless to allow
trucks into the
port if they are
not going to
be able to go
anywhere until
9am as it is just
going to congest
the terminal,”
a source told
FTW.
“Effectively
the port will
only open now
at 9am in the
mornings. I
don’t see how we can run a
24-hour operation if trucks
don’t move for six hours of
the day.”
Transnet Port Terminals
has yet to formulate its official
response to the planned ban,
but in Cape Town FTW’s
sources said it was not going
down well as it was expected
to have a severe impact on
budget and container volumes
in general.
One industry expert said
the proximity of the port to
the city was one of the major
issues.
“The city is built around
the port. The container
depots are right next to the
port. The
impact is
going to be
massive,” he
said. “Besides
anything else
this port has
nowhere for
trucks to park
off between
06:00 and
09:00 in the
mornings.
That is just
beyond
unreasonable.”
Parking further afield
means getting to the port after
9am, pushing operational time
even further back.
“And using smaller trucks
– well how do you load a
container out of the port on a
small truck that doesn’t even
weigh 9 tons?
INSERT
Besides anything else
this port has nowhere
for the trucks to park
off between 06:00
and 09:00 in the
mornings.
