Durban truckers are again up in arms, claiming that road access to the Pier 1 container terminal was nothing but a permanent traffic jam last week. This followed a letter sent by the Durban harbour carriers’ section of the SA Association of Freight Forwarders (Saaff) to Transnet CEO Maria Ramos two weeks ago – complaining that for two weeks congestion at Pier 1 and Durban container terminal (DCT) had reached critical proportions, and unacceptable delays of up to ten hours to execute ONE container movement were hitting hard at truckers’ slim margins. An urgent meeting was arranged by Ramos between the harbour carriers and port terminal management. But the substance of the agreement fell apart, and last week transport operators howled about queues of trucks for Pier 1 utterly locking up access to the southern basin of the port. Another urgent meeting was called, and the terminal management claimed that the congestion was not their fault – rather it was the traffic going into the tank farm complex, which has 18 tenants including Island View Storage (IVS). In this case the port authorities also fingered the Greystone depot’s traffic for effectively closing off access to Pier 1. The truckers agreed to disagree, and pointed out to FTW that they believed that Pier 1 had taken on more work than it could successfully handle. They also pointed out that the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) had recognised this problem over four years ago, and had agreed this year to both widen Bayhead Road on the stretch from the tank complex to Pier 1 and to create a truck holding area for 200 trucks opposite the tank complex to hold this traffic. But, although the project for the road widening/holding area was given a go-ahead, the budget is still awaiting an environmental impact assessment (EIA) before being finalised – and this important development has not yet been followed through. But after two tough-talking meetings, all the players had at least started to search for the way forward, according to Durban harbour carriers’ vicechairman, Kevin Martin, MD of Freightliner Transport. “The tank complex will explore ways to regulate the road traffic with their 18 tenants through a booking system – if possible – to restrict ONLY those vehicles with a booking for impending service being allowed in the immediate area,” he told FTW. Although the municipal road engineers refused to remove safety barriers which truckers claimed were narrowing the Bayhead Road, it was agreed that the municipal police would allocate 10 officers within a week to police the traffic full-time. “Also,” Martin said, “trucks found in a poor state of maintenance would be removed from the roads – thus restricting truck breakdowns (and the traffic congestion they cause) to the bare minimum.”
