Queuing rigs cut off access to other depots Terry Hutson THE DURBAN Container Terminal (DCT) has recorded its highest volumes of containers, and they’re now beginning to affect road transport. Last Thursday (July 31) the terminal handled 2 555 container vehicles through the terminal gates over a 24-hour period, its highest number ever. But what is disturbing about this impressive volume is that 47% of it was done during the afternoon shift, leading to heavy congestion outside the gates. So much so that SA Port Operations has been forced to warn trucking companies that it will not accept liability for accidents in Langeberg Road resulting from the congestion. Concrete blocks have been placed between the two lanes leading to DCT to prevent drivers from driving on the wrong side of the road. This became necessary after waiting rigs blocked the double left hand lanes, but Sapo says it has observed that the blocks are being pushed aside. On an inspection of the site FTW also observed heavy road congestion and spoke with drivers shortly after dark one day last week. Drivers said they were frustrated at not being able to access other nearby container depots because of rigs queuing outside DCT. Sapo says it has urged customers to assist by spreading the delivery and collection of containers via road vehicles over the three shifts in order to minimise vehicle congestion during the late afternoon shift, but as the 47 % mentioned above reveals, most continue to arrive during the late afternoon. Meanwhile a second entrance into DCT was opened for non-containerised traffic only from August 1, via the Multi Purpose Terminal road and left across the H-Bridge and left again towards DCT.
