SA RISKS ECONOMIC ‘COLLAPSE’ AS TRANSNET STRIKE HITS PORTS WITH BILLIONS ON THE LINE - BUSINESS

JOHANNESBURG - While Transnet has maintained that its terminals at ports have not come to a standstill, logistics businesses have warned of a catastrophic economic fallout if operations at the stateowned logistics giant’s ports in Durban and Cape Town face prolonged suspension.

As the strike by labour at Transnet got into full swing on Monday morning, the industrial action has set off jitters that bottlenecks will occur at the ports, costing businesses and the economy billions.

The United National Transport Union (UNTU) and the South Africa Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) served Transnet with notice of a strike, with UNTU kicking off its strike last Thursday and Satawu downing tools on Monday.

Meanwhile, Anglo American subsidiary, Kumba Iron Ore, warned that its production will be hit by the strike at Transnet. The company warned that disruptions would have an estimated impact of approximately 50, 000 tons per day on production for the first week and approximately 90, 000 tons per day thereafter.

Road Freight Association CEO Gavin Kelly said that as far as he was aware “there was no movement of trade” at the ports.

Anonymous port users were quoted in industry news site Freight News on Friday as saying that “nothing was moving” at the ports.

Transnet spokesperson Ayanda Shezi said on Monday while there were labour challenges, the ports were made up of multiple terminals with various owners.

“There are terminals that are owned by Transnet, and terminals that are owned by private sector operators. The current strike is between Transnet and its unions. This does not include private sector-run terminals.

“All private sector operated terminals in all the ports are operating at 100 percent. Ship movements from those is per the norm. Even the Transnetrun terminals have been handling cargo although at a reduced tempo. So it’s incorrect to say the ports have come to a standstill,” said Shezi.

However, Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) CEO Busisiwe Mavuso said in a statement that the mining sector has already lost an estimated R50 billion so far this year due to Transnet’s deteriorating performance and could have generated R100 billion in revenue if it were not for capacity constraints on Transnet rail and ports.

“The Transnet strike is going to cost the economy billions. It is going to set back our efforts to drive a recovery. It will damage government revenue, robbing it of the resources needed to provide poverty relief,” said Mavuso. – NEWS24.