The average truck queue at the Lebombo/Ressano Garcia border post nearly tripled last week, placing the N4 freight corridor between Pretoria and Maputo under pressure.
The queue increased by 180% to about 12km during the week of August 17-23, according to Crickmay’s latest RSA Corridor Pulse Report.
Average queueing time rose by 82% to almost four hours while the end-to-end transit time on the Pretoria-Maputo corridor increased from 21.5 hours to 23.3 hours.
Crickmay classified the corridor as “at risk”, saying the deterioration was caused by the sharp increase in the border queue rather than higher freight volumes.
“Add real margin at Lebombo now and watch whether the queue holds,” the report states.
Heavy motor vehicle border crossing time increased by 29 minutes to seven hours and 35 minutes while road travel time rose by one hour and 49 minutes to 23 hours.
The report advises operators to allow an additional two hours at Lebombo when scheduling Maputo-bound loads.
Crickmay found the border was the freight network’s main trouble spot during the reporting period while pressure eased on most of the other corridors it monitored.
However, Crickmay cautioned, the increase represents one week’s movement and should be monitored to determine whether the congestion persists.
