The South African government has announced that operations at the large Indian Ocean port of Durban have now resumed after major damage caused by flash floods in Kwa-Zula Natal.
Pravin Gordhan, South African Minister of Public Enterprises, announced on April 21 that the backlog of containerized cargo will be cleared within five to six days.
He said petrol supplies were fully restored across the country and it was now hoped to minimise the backlog of cargo until the road to the port was fully rehabilitated.
"The Port of Durban is functioning normally," Gordhan confirmed.
" Vesselscarrying imported goods are undergoing maintenance, and ships exporting goods such as food or fruit are currently undergoing maintenance due to the main road repairs.Workers can't get to the port area, or trucks can't get to the port area." But he promised to make sure the backlog of containers was cleared "in the next five to six days."
Last week, the Kwazura-Natal region suffered its heaviest rainfall in more than 60 years, with flooding damaging rail lines and roads leading to the port, halting port operations.The floods killed more than 480 people, damaged more than 8,000 homes and left 40,000 people homeless.
However, in the past few weeks, the South African citrus industry has indicated that the main export season will start at the end of April.So if the post-flood clean-up goes well, the industry will be spared, with little impact on exports.
