Rail freight out of the Port of Durban on the Container Corridor (ConCor) line to Gauteng decreased by 32% week-on-week, mainly because of a derailment incident on May 5.
In the latest Cargo Movement Update by the South African Association of Freight Forwarders and Business Unity SA, Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) said “a container train derailed on the line near Dassenhoek and Cato Ridge on Saturday morning”.
The update states that as a result, rail operations in and out of Durban were affected.
The line between Durban and Pietermaritzburg was still closed on Wednesday, May 7.
At that stage, repairs were still ongoing, highlighting TFR’s supposed lack of sufficient preparedness to duly respond to rail incidents of this nature.
The update said: “Towards the end of the week, Durban Container Terminal Pier 2 had 327 ConCor units on hand with a dwell time of 10 days, and 314 overborder units with a dwell time of 60 days.”
The reported figure of 1 922 containers moved out of the port over this period heralded a decrease of 32% from the previous week’s 2 819 containers.
