70,000 containers are stranded! Or they may be congested until February next year! The government takes action to help ease the situation and ease the backlog problem at the port

Recently, South Africa's Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced his decision to provide 47 billion rand (approximately RMB 18.8 billion) in financial support to the troubled South African state-owned enterprise Transnet to solve its huge debt problem and accelerate its Recovery plan.

As one of South Africa's important state-owned enterprises, Transnet's business scope covers South Africa's ports, railways and pipeline businesses. However, due to poor management, Transnet has been heavily in debt in recent years. Its accumulated debt currently exceeds 135 billion rand (approximately RMB 54 billion), and it has been unable to obtain loans from banks. Coupled with the serious aging of its port equipment, a large number of containers have recently been stranded in major ports such as Cape Town, Durban, and Port Elizabeth in South Africa. At the peak, the number once reached 70,000, causing outsiders to worry about South Africa's economic prospects.

In response, South African government departments including the Department of State-owned Enterprises and the Ministry of Finance finally responded as soon as possible after emergency consultations. South Africa's Ministry of Finance officially announced on the 1st that it will allocate 47 billion rand to Transnet, part of which will be used to repay the company's overstocked debt, and the other part will be used to support its recovery plan. However, the Ministry of Finance emphasized that during this period, Transnet must accept strict supervision by the South African government until its operations are back on track.

Dongguana said that as one of the most important state-owned enterprises in South Africa, Transnet covers a wide range of fields. Once the enterprise falls into crisis, South Africa's overall economic situation will be affected immeasurably. Therefore, the South African government must lend a helping hand at a critical moment to avoid its continued deterioration from causing further harm to the national economy.

According to previous news, the congestion may not be cleared until the end of January/early February next year. The main reasons are lack of available equipment and equipment maintenance not keeping pace.