Durban port backlog may be cleared by 2024, says Transnet
The state-owned rail, port and pipeline company says it has measures in place to ensure that it meets this deadline.
JOHANNESBURG - Transnet said it might finish clearing the current backlog of goods at its Durban port by next year.
Seventy thousand containers have been stuck at the terminal, with an expected 21 days before offloading can take place.
The state-owned rail, port and pipeline company says it has measures in place to ensure that it meets this deadline.
Transnet said it has already started putting in place contingency measures to help address the goods backlog.
READ: Transnet's aged equipment creates backlog with 70k goods containers stuck
Its first step, it said, is to procure the broken equipment at the port which has been cited as one of the challenges that led to the issue at hand.
Transnet's acting CEO, Michelle Phillips, said government had cut the red tape that exists in procurement to help speed up the process.
"The National Treasury has withdrawn a number of instruction notes that constrained us in the past when it comes to the procurement process."
Phillips said while Transnet acknowledges that not maintaining its equipment has played a role in the current situation, its primary focus is to clear this backlog as quickly as possible.
