There should be less reliance on roads and more on rail in Southern Africa.
Transnet is committed to integrate South Africa with the rest of the continent, through the creation of competitive corridor supply chains that will integrate our ports and railways regionally and globally. Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) has successfully established three Joint Operating Centres (JOCs) on the Maputo, North-South and East-West corridors that will achieve a seamless flow of cargo between the different countries that are signatory to these JOCs.
TFR’s vision is to identify, consolidate and grow the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Regional Corridors. The connectivity between rail, pipelines and ports is key to developing the region’s competitive advantage.
To achieve this vision TFR has collaborated with other railways/logistics organisations to achieve rail revival, thereby increasing trade in the region. African intra-regional trade stands at just 12%. TFR will be evaluating the impact of such increase over the next two to five years.
This includes the development of aligned long-term railway and port investment plans, to ensure that the planned volume growth and logistics businesses are synchronised with the necessary infrastructure investments; and Establishment of the three JOCs will achieve the seamless flow of cargo and enhance efficiencies by jointly removing the operational bottlenecks in the supply chain.
Furthermore, TFR is also growing its consultancy services to some of the railway partners in infrastructure and operational services.
There is widespread recognition that Africa needs to be better integrated into the world economy to improve its external resource base for accelerated growth and development. However, Africa is increasingly marginalised in the global economy, benefiting only negligibly from international trade and investment flows.
Transnet has a mandate to assist in lowering the cost of doing business in South Africa, enabling economic growth and security of supply by providing appropriate ports, rail and pipeline infrastructure as well as operations in a cost-effective and efficient manner, within acceptable benchmarks.
The challenges faced by our neighbouring railways are similar to those experienced by TFR previously, and some railways globally. Such challenges in the rail system include:
• Unreliable infrastructure, with capacity planned to accommodate minimal growth projections;
• Unavailability of equipment and rolling stock to move the tonnages;
• Statutory and policy provisions that do not necessarily enable the growth of rail;
• Minimal skills development; and
• Insufficient Information and Communication Technology to enhance competitiveness and customer service.
The development of joint investment plans has informed several initiatives that will address the above challenges, as part of the JOC Implementation Plan. The Southern Africa Railways Association (Sara) will in the main assist with the SADC policy matters that railways need to work together.
Regionally, as is the case in South Africa, a disproportionately high market share in road transport challenges transport costs. Road transport is heavily dependent on imported fuel, which also raises the country’s overall transport costs. The trend of more volumes carried on road and additional tonnes available for transportation being absorbed by road results in rail being under-utilised and roads being over-utilised.
The objective is to develop an integrated regional rail system with economic growth opportunities.
A cross-border railway skills training project has been initiated and a process design is in place. The School of Rail has been engaging the cross-border railways.
This year a total of 129 cross-border candidates have been trained, representing a growth of 122% compared to the 58 trained in 2014.
The Maputo Corridor Master Plan has been signed off. The approval of the North-South and East-West corridors has been more complex. Sara will assist with the execution of the strategy, to ensure completion by the end of the 2016 financial year.
The Joint Operations Committee concept has been recommended in the Sara Executive Committee. The Maputo Corridor ITP has been activated and processes are being developed to automate the ITP’s mechanisation.