Three sources with firsthand knowledge of the situation told Reuters that a cyber assault halted operations at South Africa’s busiest cargo ports, the continent’s largest.
Transnet, which runs key South African ports such as Durban and Cape Town, as well as a massive railway network that carries minerals and other commodities for export, acknowledged that its IT applications were down and that it was investigating the problem.
Transnet’s official website was down on Thursday showing an error message.
Following days of protest and violence in several regions of the country, the state-owned company’s ports and national freight train line were already severely disrupted last week.
Containers and car parts were delayed as a result of the new disruption, but commodities were mainly unaffected because they were in a separate area of the port, according to a person with direct information.
It will also create backlogs that could take time to clear.