Transnet unit aims to move from road freight

Last year, the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci) passed a motion at its annual convention calling for greater efficiencies in road transport.

The Transnet unit was responding to the motion at a breakfast presentation on Friday.

Sacci CEO Neren Rau said he was glad that the unit was addressing business on its expansion plans. Sacci would then pass on the details to its members, he said.

He said his members would appreciate the need to find incentives for other ways of moving freight.

"Businesses often use roads because they are cheaper and the rail and port infrastructure needs development," Mr Rau said. Two challenges that Transnet faced were the difficulty of getting goods from SA's interior to its coast and a high dependence on road transport for moving freight.

Government statistics show that between 2003 and 2007 the volume of freight in SA more than doubled. Concurrently, more freight was transported by road - 80% of freight was moved by road in 2003. By 2007 this had grown to 87%.

Mr Rau said Transnet agreed it would struggle to sustain rail infrastructure in the long term. "There would be environmental concerns among other issues."

Two thirds of Transnet's budget is allocated to maintenance and one third is allocated to building. Transnet is looking not to focus its budget on developing roads, as then developing other modes of transport later on becomes more expensive.

Mr Rau said that one alternative to road transport was by sea.

There was excess capacity at ports, especially at Richards Bay, but feeder lines needed work.

"One has to remember that SA is fighting a slight uphill battle in terms of infrastructure to reach markets. We have a geographical disadvantage over countries like China. We have longer distances over which to transport our goods. We want to get our costs below the global average so we can compete," Mr Rau said.

Source: Business Day