(Bloomberg) — A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S suspended some operations at South Africa’s biggest port because of damage caused by flooding that left dozens of people dead.
Maersk, the world’s biggest container line, closed its Durban offices and asked employees to work from home for the rest of the week, according to a statement on its website. Depot and warehouse operations are suspended, and there is no access to the Durban terminal because of “significant damage” to an access road, it said.
More than 60 people have died in KwaZulu-Natal province because of the floods, Johannesburg-based broadcaster eNCA reported Wednesday morning. The deluge came after weather stations in the eastern region reported the heaviest rainfall in at least six decades, with some recording more than 300 millimeters within 24 hours — an amount normally associated with intense hurricanes.
“The damage left behind is unimaginable,” Mpume Langa, first vice president at the Durban Chamber of Commerce, said in an interview with Johannesburg-based broadcaster Newzroom Afrika.
Durban is part of the eThekwini municipality, the largest in the KwaZulu-Natal province, which is the second-biggest contributor to South Africa’s $429 billion gross domestic product. The Port of Durban is sub-Saharan Africa’s largest container hub. It handles 60% of country’s shipments and also transports goods and commodities to and from nations in the region as far north as the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The disaster unfolded less than a year after a week of rioting and looting in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces cost the economy an estimated 50 billion rand ($3.5 billion) in damages and left more than 300 people dead.
Transnet SOC Ltd., the state-owned ports and rail operator, suspended shipping in Durban on Tuesday until further notice. Key routes into the port, including the coastal N2 highway and the N3 route that links Durban to the commercial hub of Johannesburg, were closed because of flood damage.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is scheduled to visit the area on Wednesday morning, while the army is preparing to deploy troops to provide assistance.
