The following advisory was published by A.P. Moller – Maersk:
April 12th, 2022 – Update 2
We continue to monitor the weather situation in Durban – South Africa – and have made an initial assessment of damage and impact to our operations and we can confirm the following.
- Terminal operations remain on standby with gang availability compromised given restricted access.
- There is still no access into the terminal and there is evidence of significant damage to Bay Head road – no trucks can enter or exit the terminal.
- Depot operations remain suspended, and transporters continue to ground their fleets in response.
- Our Precool facility is closed today and all four access roads are either damaged or closed. No trucks can come in or out – we will re-assess tomorrow.
We are pleased to confirm that all our employees are safe and accounted for. We continue to be in direct contact with our suppliers – and again we can confirm there have been no injuries nor loss of life. Physical assets and facilities, however, have been compromised and this will impact operations for the coming days.
We continue to formulate contingencies and countermeasures as the situation remains complex and unstable. For now
- Our Durban offices will remain closed and our teams there will continue to work from home for the remainder of this week. (As communicated earlier, we remain open for business virtually).
- Our depots remain closed for receipt and collection of equipment in Durban.
- Warehouse operations have also been impacted and are suspended.
We will seek to provide as much clarity as possible for all our export and import customers, both dry and reefer in terms of booking acceptance, and container and import releases. Meanwhile, we can confirm to all our customers the following relief package.
- Detention for both import and export will be stopped for 1 week (11th April – 19th April)
- Demurrage Depot Storage for import will be stopped for 1 week 11th April – 19th April)
- Demurrage terminal Storage will be based on the TPT relief offered.
We thank you for your patience through this very difficult period. We will provide our next update tomorrow morning and we remain contactable via all our usual channels.
Please stay safe.
April 12th, 2022 – Update 1
As we have seen over night, Durban has been impacted by heavy rainfall leading to severe flooding in many areas and widespread damage. While the situation is being assessed there is an immediate impact on our operations.
- All depots are significantly impacted by the flooding and heavy rainfall and are closed.
- All transporters have grounded their fleets.
- Terminal operations that were halted yesterday evening remain suspended this morning.
- There is no access into the terminal due to Bayhead flooding and the terminal is unable to receive trucks.
Firstly, the safety of our employees, customers and suppliers remains paramount to Maersk and we have plans and policies to provide the necessary support. To this effect.
- We have closed our Durban offices and our teams there are working from home – we remain open for business virtually.
- We are currently making a full assessment of the damage to our assets and facilities.
- Our depots remain closed for receipt and collection of equipment in Durban.
- Warehouse operations have also been impacted and are suspended
For now, all operations are suspended. We understand you will have questions regarding collection and delivery of full exports and imports, the pick-up of equipment and return of empty equipment. We will continue to provide regular updates through the course of the day as we assess and implement recovery measures.
Source: A.P. Moller – Maersk (JK)
Source: A.P. Moller – Maersk