The KwaZulu Natal province experienced heavy rainfalls on the 11th and the 12th of April 2022 where humanitarian was negatively impacted. The heavy rainfalls impacted the provinces’ infrastructure in the form of water, sanitation, and road as well as damage to houses and power cables. More than 400 KZN residents also lost their lives during the course of the 2 days in the landslides and the flooding in the province.
With the port providing almost 90% of our country’s goods, it is imperative to keep it operational and in good standing. The entity in charge of our all port in South Africa, Transnet, was heavily impacted during the period of the heavy rainfalls. The enterprise suspended some of its operations across the Durban Terminals during this period where some of the vessels on the berth were put on standby. Transnet also needed to find alternative terminals for the container terminals and the liquid bulk terminals at the Island View Precinct.
A multi-disciplinary command center which was inclusive of the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA), operators, and customers were set to monitor all precautionary activities.
As part of the precautional monitoring and activities, the command center identified alternative access routes for trucks that were meant to be received on the container terminals and the liquid bulk terminals at the Island View Precinct due to reparations on the Bayhead Road. The bulk of the damage along the Bayhead Road was on the two lanes going into the container terminal and the Island View Precinct.
Bluff Road was the alternative access road after engagement with the Bluff community to temporarily relax the municipal bylaws. The canal bridge will be opened up in the long term together with the entire Bayhead Road upon completion of all the road’s rehabilitation phases. The entire rehabilitation is estimated to be completed over a duration of 12 months.
“The port is critical to the stability of the South African economy and Transnet will continue to work with all customers and industry to ensure that the logistics chain is enabled in the interest of the economy”, said Transnet in their media address.
The eThekwini municipality called for resource help in the form of equipment (TLBs, Tipper Trucks Front End Loaders, and Excavators) as well as social relief packages (Food Hampers, Water, Clothing, Sleeping Mattresses, and hygiene packs) to assist the individuals who were in need.
“ As a city, we would like to express our heartfelt condolences to all families that have lost their loved ones during these heavy rains. And we are, as a city, going to be interacting with them to give necessary support where ever it is required”, said eThekwini Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda as he was addressing the media on the KZN heavy rainfalls.