Truck drivers who have battled days-long queues to offload their coal for export are now using the safe haven of the portside as a secure sleepover place before exiting the port back to pick up the next load.
All the while there is no one from Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) seemingly in attendance to try to address the escalation of what is a threat to the total functioning of one of the top coal export terminals in the world.
Reports indicate that the coal truckers are also insisting all trucks must join the kilometres-long queue into the port even though, in some instances, their destination is not to deliver to the port but chrome to a nearby smelter.
Coal deliveries through the port are a cascading calamity, as Mike Patterson of the Zululand Chamber’s Business Forum on Road Issues reports following interactions with affected industries in the Richards Bay and Empangeni areas.
“There is no staff from the TNPA to police what is happening. The port is gridlocked, with 50 trucks being released at a time, but no control over trucks entering the port from alternative entry points.
“Basically, trucks are coming in at a heavier rate than the port can manage. It is being bombarded by trucks coming in from all sides. Now we have the compounding problem of truck drivers who have offloaded, choosing to use the portside facilities as a truck stop overnight, for which it is not equipped, thus reducing access even further for full trucks wanting to enter to offload,” he said.
The queue of trucks is presently kilometres long, meaning up to days of frustrating waiting.
An attempt to resolve the issue has resulted in numerous meetings and promises between interested civic organisations, business bodies and Transnet.
These interactions seem to confirm that nothing is being done to reduce the number of trucks bringing coal to the Richards Bay area. The original intent of the rail line from the Mpumalanga and northern Kwa-Zulu-Natal basin is not on the agenda.
Richards Bay residents say the movement of the trucks has turned the port town into a virtual “coal mine”, affecting major roads from South Africa’s prime coal export basin in southern Mpumalanga.
The original plan was for this coal to be delivered by rail when the Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) was established in the ‘70s and RBCT is exporting coal that is received by rail for its clients overseas. The rail line faces disruptions along the route when trains are stopped and equipment, which includes batteries, is stolen, causing backlogs which impact the coal reserves held at the coal terminal which is one of the largest in the world.
The RBCT cannot handle road transport as it is equipped to handle special rail coaches only, thus they are not involved in the trucking issue in any way.
