Fines expected to cover extra
staff costs
Alan Peat
WITH THE year closing, those often grossly-overloaded container truckers carrying cargoes in-and-out of the Port of Durban will still be able to sneak past the Bayhead Road weighbridge in the wee small hours and at weekends.
But, although there’s nothing official, that could very well end early next year when the weighbridge on this access road goes 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week.
Some months ago, the reputable trucking fraternity - in the form of the Durban Harbour Carriers section of the SA Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF) - submitted a justification report to the relevant municipal authorities and the traffic police.
This extrapolated figures of convictions for overloading, which showed that the income from the extra fines could cover the cost to the authorities of the extra manpower requirements of a permanently manned weighbridge.
There’s no further official word on how this appeal to the authorities is going, but traffic officials and other municipal voices have suggested that - if the issue proves cost-efficient - there is unlikely to be any objection.
