Weekly deliverables at Durban’s main container terminal fell 26% after a mid-August systems change, while reported waiting times stretched to between eight and 12 days, two freight industry bodies said on Wednesday.
The South African Freight and Logistics Association (SAFLA) and Road Freight Association (RFA) called for an immediate, unified recovery plan for the Durban Gateway Terminal (DGT), including a public 30-day recovery programme with daily performance targets.
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According to the associations, vessels calling at DGT spent an average of about 80 hours at anchorage and 106 hours at berth in July.
They said weekly throughput fell 26% following the transition to the NAVIS N4 terminal operating system in mid-August, while reported terminal waiting times had increased to “between eight and 12 days”.
DGT had advised customers ahead of the changeover that the NAVIS migration would temporarily halt vessel and landside operations and that some delays could follow while the new system was stabilised.
The terminal began the cutover on 15 August and established a dedicated support arrangement, known as Hypercare, to deal with operational problems during the transition period.
SAFLA and the RFA said independent monitoring data showed average Durban port call times had risen from less than five days in late June to more than 12 days by late August. Monthly berth calls had fallen from 34 in May to 19, they said.
The latest disruption follows a period in which Durban had shown signs of recovering from years of congestion, equipment shortages and poor productivity.
The World Bank and S&P Global Market Intelligence’s latest Container Port Performance Index showed Durban recording the biggest year-on-year improvement among the 400 ports assessed between 2024 and 2025. However, it remained close to the bottom of the global rankings at 398th.
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According to SAFLA and the RFA, the time transporters spend in the port precinct per visit has increased by more than half in three months, while journey times along Bayhead Road, the main road link to the container terminals, have risen steadily since January.
The organisations said that the consequences extended beyond storage and shipping charges. Manufacturers could be left waiting for imported components, companies could be forced to use more expensive air freight and trucking operators could lose productive hours while vehicles stood without terminal bookings.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said in March that inefficiencies in the country’s freight and logistics system were estimated to be costing the economy close to R1 billion a day, while the heavy reliance on road freight was placing additional strain on the country’s roads.
“Transporters are carrying this crisis on their balance sheets,” RFA Chief Executive Officer Gavin Kelly said.
“Fleets are standing without bookings while fixed costs run, drivers are queuing on Bayhead Road, and every standing hour ends up in the price of goods. Slot releases must match real capacity, and truck staging must be fast-tracked now. Without trucks, South Africa stops.”
The associations called for a “DGT Recovery Compact”, which would bring the terminal operator, Transnet entities, eThekwini Municipality, shipping lines, transporters, labour and industry organisations into a single daily recovery structure.
They proposed a public 30-day plan with daily operational targets and a dashboard tracking vessel waiting and berth times, crane productivity, equipment availability, system stability, container dwell times, truck turnaround and rail movements out of the terminal.
They also called for NAVIS technical support to remain in place until cargo flows had stabilised, together with measures to improve the reliability of cranes and straddle carriers and clear containers that had remained in the terminal for extended periods.
Landside, the groups want truck appointment slots to reflect the terminal’s actual handling capacity, greater transparency around slot cancellations and faster development of truck staging facilities.
“Cargo owners and freight forwarders do not experience the port as separate institutions. They experience one chain,” SAFLA Executive Officer David Logan said. “If systems, straddles, slots, gates, roads or rail fail to align, cargo stops. The priority is not institutional blame. It is disciplined recovery, with clear owners, deadlines and one trusted set of numbers.”
International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI) took over operations at DGT, formerly Durban Container Terminal Pier 2, on 1 January under a 25-year partnership with Transnet.
The terminal is pivotal to South Africa’s container trade. Transnet has previously said Pier 2 handles about 72% of container volumes passing through the Port of Durban and about 46% of the country’s total container traffic.
The agreement is expected to bring more than R11 billion in investment into infrastructure, equipment and technology at the terminal. It also forms part of the Freight Logistics Roadmap adopted by government to improve rail and port performance and increase private-sector participation.
When the partnership was concluded, Transnet and ICTSI said they aimed to increase Pier 2’s annual capacity from about two million to 2.8 million twenty-foot equivalent units and improve productivity.
SAFLA and the RFA said DGT had inherited longstanding infrastructure, yard, road and rail constraints and that the NAVIS transition had not created those problems, but had made the existing difficulties worse.
The organisations also called for clearer commercial relief where delays were beyond the control of cargo owners, including storage, demurrage and detention charges. They said refrigerated containers, perishables and other critical cargo should be prioritised transparently.
SAFLA and the RFA acknowledged measures taken by DGT, including Hypercare support, storage extensions and the Radar platform, as well as the Presidency’s involvement.
They said, however, that the industry still lacked a single consolidated set of performance indicators that could be independently assessed.
“The Transnet-ICTSI partnership was created to change Durban’s trajectory, and we want it to succeed,” Logan said.
“Success will be measured by predictable berthing, productive ship hours, reliable truck access, effective rail evacuation and cargo arriving on time. Durban needs one recovery plan, one set of trusted numbers and shared accountability. Cargo must move — and it must keep moving.”
