Operations at the vast Indian Ocean port of Durban are now fully operational following KwaZulu-Natal’s flash floods that caused a major disruption of the harbour a week ago, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan announced on Wednesday.
Gordhan told reporters that fuel supply to the rest of the country had been fully restored and progress was being made to decrease the backlog until roads leading to the port are fully repaired.
“The port of Durban is functional. Ships that are bringing in imports are being serviced and the vessels that are taking up exports – including food items or fruit – are also being serviced as a result of the impact on the repaired main road,” Gordhan said.
He added: “We did have an issue where some 8,000 to 9,000 containers had accumulated, either because staff could not reach the harbour area, or trucks could not reach the harbour area.”
He pledged to ensure that the container backlog is cleared “within the next five to six days”.
Operations came to a halt last week as floods damaged railway lines and roads leading to the port, forcing the backlog of containers waiting to offload from ships anchored off the coast and pick up goods at the harbour.
The flooding has left over 480 people dead, some 8,000 houses damaged and 40,000 people without shelter.
NM/jn/APA