JOHANNESBURG, July 23 (Xinhua) -- The cyberattack on South Africa's transport utility Transnet has crippled the movement of goods, said Road Freight Association (RFA) on Friday.
The RFA said Transnet system, which had been affected by a cyberattack on Thursday, needed to be adapted to prevent a similar occurrence in future.
"The RFA is dismayed and gravely concerned about the cyber-attack on Transnet. This is creating massive delays and creating unreliability of the movement of goods across all modes of transport - with road freight bearing the brunt of the impact," said RFA CEO Gavin Kelly.
He said the gates to ports are closed which means no trucks are moving on either direction.
"This has immediate effect: the queues will get a lot longer, deliveries will be delayed and congestion will increase," he added.
On Friday Transnet said they have identified the source of disruption to its IT systems and are working hard to remedy it.
Transnet said they have resorted to manual processing to prioritize exports.
"The manual processes being used are also creating problems in terms of operations. Road freight operators already have a huge backlog resulting from last week's civil unrest. The delays at the port will further exacerbate the problem. Deliveries will become unreliable and unpredictable, adding further inefficiencies into the supply chain," Kelly said.
He pointed out that the cyber-attack would damage the country's reputation as the 'Gateway to Africa' for the import and export of goods. The delay in the ports would make international traders and shippers choose other ports in Africa. Enditem