Durban – A call has been made for government to take decisive action to put an end to the continuous attacks on trucks on the country’s roads.
Eleven trucks were torched in separate incidents at the weekend. Six trucks were set alight on the N3 at Van Reenen’s Pass on Saturday night which led to the closure of the highway for several hours on Sunday.
Also on Sunday, five trucks were set alight on the N4 in Mpumalanga near the Waterval Boven Tunnel.
Speaking on the sidelines of the 41st Southern African Transport Conference which began yesterday, trucking and freight expert, Paul Nordengen, director of Heavy Vehicle Transport Technology Africa and vice-president (Africa) of the International Forum for Road Transport Technology said the incidents were “criminal” and had a dire impact on the economy.
“There are so many impacts, the first thing we think of is the damage to the trucks, cargo and the damage to the infrastructure such as the roads. Truck drivers must be going through absolute hell. Then there is the additional impact on the rest of the traffic.
“They normally occur on the main corridors. Saturday was the N3 and last night was the N4 and those corridors are used by trucks 24/7. A lot of the freight is just in time, so the operators are planning for the commodities to be delivered at a specific time and they often have a window and they get penalties if they fall outside that window.
“It has a huge impact on the freight and a much bigger impact on smaller businesses.”
He added that companies in the freight industry needed to be part of community social media groups and trucking groups to keep informed on any incidents such as protests, road closures and poor weather conditions so their drivers can be warned in time and can find a safe place to stop.
“Government has a big responsibility to address this problem. We need law enforcement and rapid reaction and we can learn from countries around the world where they have similar situations about how to deal with this. We have to stop this from happening over and over again.
“The private sector has a role to play but it would be working together with government to find solutions. The private sector would be more willing to make their expertise and technology available to work with government to find a solution.”