Allan Heydorn of our Richards Bay office has reported that the port of Richards Bay infrastructure is simply unable to process the increased number of trucks delivering coal to the port.  Not only are road surfaces which were never designed to carry such volumes of heavy-duty vehicles being destroyed but the build up of trucks, often kilometres long, is congesting the roadways.

The tempo at which trucks arrive exceeds the speed at which the current port truck booking system can process the permits required to reach the stockpiles.

As a consequence, the Transnet terminal operator has been left with no choice but to freeze all vessel nominations for vessels that bring in cargo via road transport.  An urgent meeting of affected stakeholders is to be held on 21 November 2023 to seek solutions to the problems.

If you have any queries or require any further information, please contact Allan at heydorn@wylie.co.za