Hundreds of coal trucks queuing to offload coal at the Port of Richards Bay caused a traffic backlog on the N2 at the weekend.
A video of the trucks carrying coal for export was captured and shared widely on social media. The video showed a long queue of trucks lined up on the N2 southbound from the R34 off-ramp waiting to call at the port. The queue lined the road as far back as Canefields.
TimesLIVE reported that it had seen a Transnet situation report which noted that “despite the rain showers and challenges with internal road conditions, Transnet continues to receive all coal trucks”.
According to the report, the trucks were being held back and released for entry to the harbour every few hours. The report noted that just after 07:30 on Sunday, there were “approximately 312 coal trucks lined up on the N2 and tailbacking to Honey Farm". A few hours later, by 10.30, 170 trucks had been allowed into the port.
Road Traffic Inspectorate spokesperson Zinhle Mngomezulu said there had been high volumes of traffic on the province’s roads as holidaymakers were travelling home at the weekend. However, she declined to comment on the queue of trucks outside the port.
Transnet had not responded to Freight News' questions regarding the backlog at the time of publication.
Watch a video of the miles-long queue below:
