/ 9 November 2005

Spoornet and Sasol unveil joint venture

South African transport utility Spoornet and chemical and synthetic fuels group Sasol on Wednesday announced a collaboration initiative called Project Mamba.

In a joint statement, the groups said the collaboration combines the knowledge, expertise and commitment of Spoornet and Sasol to redesign the supply chain and increase capacity by almost 50% with current resources.

The project has brought together not only Spoornet and Sasol, but also Sasol’s other supply-chain partners Island View Storage and Vopak to ensure total alignment of the newly designed supply chain.

Spoornet CEO Siyabonga Gama said the aim of the project is to increase capacity within three years.

“In the next three years, we want to double the current capacity and I think the project will be able to do that for all the stakeholders,” Gama said.

He added that Spoornet’s strategy is to put customers first and reduce the cost of doing business in South Africa.

The project was launched two weeks ago after a year of negotiations with different stakeholders.

Project Mamba will see three trains, namely the White Mamba, the Green Mamba and the Red Mamba, transporting products from the Sasol sites to coastal storage locations, including all the related loading, off-loading and shunting activities. — I-Net Bridge