Port of Durban manager Nompumelelo Dweba-Kwetana, in an exclusive interview with the Business Report, broke down the progress being made at the Port and major repairs to Bayhead Road.
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Port of Durban manager Nompumelelo Dweba-Kwetana, in an exclusive interview with the Business Report, broke down the progress being made at the Port and major repairs to Bayhead Road.
Dweba-Kwetana said that around 2023 there was a lot of congestion around the Port of Durban. “In fact, the congestion was not only limited to the Port of Durban; there were also serious logistical challenges being experienced around the country. As a result of this, President Cyril Ramaphosa established what was known as the Crisis Logistics Committee. The board of Transnet was given a mandate to look at how they can turn the business around.”
Dweba-Kwetana added that the Transnet board agreed at that time that the strategic approach was going to be the recovery plan. “One of the challenges that we were experiencing at that time was that our infrastructure was old and we had equipment that was old and required maintenance, and some of it required replacement. The recovery plan made bold statements that we needed to first focus on stabilising the business. This meant stabilising the infrastructure we have before we could grow and put in more infrastructure.”
Dweba-Kwetana said that they focused on repairing their roads and that the port had the desired designs so that their ships could sail in and out of the port. “From the equipment side, as part of the recovery plan, the board approved that as Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA), seven new tugs were to be deployed, five of which were to be deployed at the Port of Durban. Transnet Port Terminal (TPT) was also allowed to have contracts with original equipment manufacturers (OEM) for the repair of equipment. There were initiatives put in place so that we could invest in equipment.”
Dweba-Kwetana added that there was a procurement of STS cranes that were delivered in December. “We also delivered RTGs; the batch is 20, of which nine were delivered in 2025. They were commissioned and they are working. We also have the 11 that are being commissioned now, so at the Durban Container Terminal Pier 1, we have new equipment at Pier 1 as it is an RTG-operated facility.”
Dweba-Kwetana said that at Durban Container Terminal Pier 2, which is our biggest container terminal, they have procured straddle carriers. “Out of the straddle carriers that we have, our plan is to have 20 straddle carriers, all of which have been commissioned and are making a huge difference in improving operational efficiency.”
Dweba-Kwetana added that one of the measures they are using to measure whether the terminals are operating well or not is the ship turnaround time. “We have seen in both terminals there has been improvement in the ship turnaround time; in Pier 1 it may not be where we like it to be, but there has been big improvement. We are still seeking improvement in both piers. If we look at the specifics, in 2023, at the height of the congestion we had at least 17 to 20 ships waiting to come inside. As of today, we have six container ships waiting to come into Pier 1. So there is improvement and our tugs are working. We have moved from operating two and three tugs to now consistently operating five tugs, and by the end of the year, we want to operate seven tugs.”
Dweba-Kwetana said they have made major improvements to Bayhead Road after the road was washed away in the Durban 2022 floods. “Bayhead plays a major role in the economy of South Africa. The economy was impacted when the road was washed away. It impacted trucks coming from Island View and Pier 1 and Pier 2. Bayhead Road, on a normal day, handles between 700 and 2000 trucks. Besides the road being washed away, it was damaged and had potholes. We had to decide to rehabilitate Bayhead Road to deal with the capacity with the trucks. We also built the bypass road to complement Bayhead Road.”
Dweba-Kwetana added the refurbishment that they have done started from Shell garage to Langeberg Road. “We are planning to do a feasibility study so that we can expand Bayhead Road. We want to have three lanes in and three lanes out, still complemented by the bypass road. We believe that once we complete this expansion of Bayhead, we will be able to deal with the capacity of trucks on the road.”
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