At a time when Transnet appears to be pulling out all the stops to deal with land-side congestion at the Port of Durban, where kilometre-long truck queues into the terminal have basically become the norm, residents of Africa's busiest port city have demanded that heavy rigs be removed from certain areas.
African News Agency (ANA) reports that frustrations over traffic jams caused by trucks have reached boiling point with residents.
According to ANA they have called for heavily loaded vehicles to be taken of residential streets.
When Freight News paid a visit to the area last last year, trucks - mostly from mines in Rustenburg and laden with chrome - stood head to tail in blazing heat on Bayhead Road, waiting to tip their loads at one of the port's two piers.
With no amenities catering for drivers during delays lasting for days on Bayhead Road, and industry executives exposing the resulting human rights violations to which truck drivers are exposed, Durban residents have warned that it can't go on like that.
At certain intersections crossing main thoroughfares in and out of the port area, trucks and people in their peak-time commute make for a choking mix of gridlocked traffic going absolutely nowhere.
Earlier this week though, Freight News reported that Transnet had finally stepped up efforts to alleviate congestion experienced at the port, especially around the pier area.
Industry representatives like Peters Besnard from the SA Association of Ship Operators and Agents (Saasoa) confirmed this.
Line executives like Dave McCallum of DAL Agency and Glenn Delve of MSC also confirmed that there were commendable efforts by public sector officials to address long-standing private sector concerns about freight delays experienced around the port.
How soon this will result in tangible relief for truck drivers and the logistics industry at large remains to be seen.
Durban residents too must be relieved that something is finally being done to unclog their city's arteries.
