Opposition parties yesterday called on Public Enterprises Minister Jeff Radebe to urgently address the congestion crisis at South Africa's main harbours.

"It is now obvious that the operations in our ports have reached crisis levels," Democratic Alliance public enterprises spokesman Rudi Heine said in a members' statement in the National Assembly.

The port congestion in Durban, the country's biggest port, was presently averaging from 48 to 72 hours.

In Cape Town, port congestion was averaging about 72 hours for a vessel to get a berth.

Port Elizabeth port "is working", but was severely hampered by poor productivity and occasional congestion as a result of the build-up in Cape Town and Durban.

"The present port congestion has resulted in the shipping lines having no option but to impose a port congestion surcharge a TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit), which is payable by the importer/exporter," he said.

"Our exporters are already feeling the negative financial impact, which is also made worse as a result of the strengthening rand.

"The crux of the matter is that the poor productivity is mainly due to an alarming lack of infrastructure at SA ports. To complicate the matter further is the threatening strikes by unions over the concessionaires at Durban port".

Any such strike action would be nothing less than sabotage of the whole economy.

Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana had been quick to threaten employers over minimum wages and unemployment insurance levies, but had kept a deathly silence when labour embarked on actions crippling the economy.

"The DA urgently calls on Minister Radebe to solve this crisis.

"Exports and imports are the heartbeat of our economy, and this situation cannot be allowed to carry on for one day longer," Heine said.

In another members' statement, the New National Party's Keppies Niemann said it was necessary to urgently complete the restructuring of South Africa's ports, as poor management and control was costing millions of rands a year.

This would give a boost to economic growth and investor confidence.

Since 1994, imports and exports had grown phenomenally, placing much pressure on all inland terminals.

The volumes of imports and exports exceeded the capacity of the ports by 26%, Niemann said.

This meant South Africa was not importing and exporting to its full capacity.

The NNP believed it had now become a matter of urgency to finalise the proposed restructuring and privatisation of certain terminals.

This would not only benefit the economy, but also create jobs.

Government simply could not continue dragging its feet on this initiative.

South Africa could not afford poor management and control of ports to cause a loss of income and investor confidence, Niemann said. – Sapa.