Cargo Must Move: SAFLA and the RFA Call for a Unified DGT Recovery Compact

The South African Freight and Logistics Association (SAFLA) and the Road Freight Association (RFA) are jointly calling for an immediate, unified recovery plan to restore predictable cargo flow through Durban Gateway Terminal (DGT) after sustained disruption across vessel, yard, system and landside operations.

The record is stark. In July, vessels at DGT averaged some 80 hours at anchorage and 106 at berth. After the mid-August NAVIS N4 cutover, weekly throughput fell 26% and reported terminal waits reached eight to 12 days. Independent monitoring data shows average Durban port call time rising from under five days in late June to more than twelve by late August, and monthly berth calls down from 34 to 19 since May. On the roadside, the time transporters spend in the port precinct per visit has risen by more than half in three months, while Bayhead Road transit times have climbed steadily since January. The whole gateway is slowing.

The cost runs well beyond storage and demurrage: production lines waiting for inputs, emergency airfreight at a multiple of ocean cost, and trucks standing without bookings. In the 2023 logistics crisis, the GAIN Group put the cost of freight-system dysfunction at around R1 billion a day in lost output. Durban is running the same mechanisms again.

International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI) assumed operational responsibility for DGT on 1 January 2026 under a 25-year partnership with Transnet, inheriting longstanding infrastructure, yard, road and rail constraints alongside pre-handover investment in 20 new straddle carriers and four ship-to-shore cranes. The question is no longer equipment purchased, but equipment available, reliable and synchronised. The NAVIS N4 transition did not create DGT’s constraints; it compounded them.

Accountability must follow the contracts: cargo owners contract with shipping lines, the lines with the terminal, and Transnet granted the concession under defined performance commitments. Transnet and the shipping lines therefore hold the standing to bring the terminal to account — and neither should pass the cost of disruption down a chain that controls none of it.

“Cargo owners and freight forwarders do not experience the port as separate institutions. They experience one chain,” says David Logan, Executive Officer of SAFLA. “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.”

“Transporters are carrying this crisis on their balance sheets,” continues Gavin Kelly, Chief Executive Officer of the RFA. “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 propose a DGT Recovery Compact built on five actions:

1.  One recovery structure — the terminal, Transnet entities, eThekwini, shipping lines, transporters, labour and industry bodies in one daily structure, with government facilitating rather than managing.

2.  A public, 30-day recovery plan — daily targets and one public dashboard: vessel waiting and berth times, crane productivity, equipment availability, system stability, yard utilisation, dwell, truck turnaround, rail evacuation.

3.  Stabilisation of systems, equipment and the yard — NAVIS Hypercare retained until cargo-flow thresholds are sustained, backed by a straddle and crane reliability programme and accelerated evacuation of long-dwell containers.

4.  A coordinated landside plan — appointment releases aligned with real capacity, published slot schedules, reasons for cancellations, disclosure of any preferential access, and fast-tracked truck staging.

5.  Fair commercial treatment — transparent prioritisation of reefers, perishables and critical cargo, and published relief processes for storage, demurrage and detention where delays lay beyond the cargo owner’s control.

The associations acknowledge DGT’s Hypercare support, storage extensions and Radar platform, and the Presidency’s involvement. What is still missing is one consolidated, independently understandable set of performance indicators.

“The Transnet–ICTSI partnership was created to change Durban’s trajectory, and we want it to succeed,” Logan says. “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.”

SAFLA and the RFA stand ready to contribute member evidence and practitioner expertise to a joint recovery task team alongside DGT, Transnet, government and other industry bodies.

RFA Chief Executive Officer Gavin Kelly

SAFLA’s Executive Officer Dave Logan