Durban - The Road Freight Association (RFA) has expressed concern about government’s plans to move a percentage of goods transport from road to rail in the next five years, following fatal crashes involving freight vehicles.
The RFA said South Africa’s rail system is too broken and was not up to the task of taking over from road freight services, saying an efficient and continued trade supply needs all the pieces of the logistics chain to operate at their optimal level.
Gavin Kelly, CEO of the Road Freight Association, said :“ Any reasonable assessment of logistics chains around the world – and this is what we are talking about – shows that rail needs to play its part in the movement of certain sizes (gross tonnage) and types of cargo.
“Moving millions of tonnes of coal or ore to a harbour by truck is not sensible, and South Africa leads the way in logistics operations when the dedicated lines carrying coal from the inland mines to Richards Bay, or similarly iron ore to Saldanha were textbook and sustainable examples of main-line rail operations. There were, of course, many more regional rail links that supported agriculture, manufacturing, and general retail business.”
Kelly pointed that the country’s passenger rail had collapsed – a system that had lines running within most metropolitan areas.
“Buses (of all types and sizes) must now ply routes ensuring that employees can get to work on time. Efficiency, reliability, and security are not traits commonly associated with rail services, whether passenger or freight.
“In terms of freight services on rail: unfortunately no matter how much we would all like the rail system to play its rightful role in the transportation of goods (and people) across our country, this will still take some time in becoming a reliable and sustainable alternative.”
Kelly said that the country’s rail infrastructure had been neglected and destroyed.
“There are myriad challenges that face rail – and the plan to address and prevent these recurring problems is a vital part of any “revitalisation” of rail. Realities in the freight logistics world determine how freight is moved, which modes are chosen above others and what investment (if any) will be applied to a mode.”
Kelly added that transportation is a dynamic industry – and whilst those who run transport services continually competed and tried to have an edge or provide the best service, it was the customer (owner of the goods) who ultimately decided on which mode was used.
“Those customers are businessmen and women – not romanticists. In the first instance, rail will need to provide the accessible, efficient, reliable, and secure service that is currently provided by other modes – and mostly so by road transport. Once rail can provide that kind of service, then the customer will use rail.”
Kelly said that there are questions on how the government will fund the rail plan and run such a service.
“Is the plan to tax South Africans even more – or to levy and penalise the efficient road freight industry? Which routes will be chosen, as you cannot fix everything at the same time?”
He added that the RFA has had many discussions with the Department of Transport over the last three decades.
“Some large logistics members of theassociation brought in concepts of trucks being carried by trains (ie on rail), truck trailers being able to run on rail lines and various other systems. These all eventually came to nothing, as the rail system was unreliable.”
Kelly added that the association supported the move of “rail-friendly” cargo to rail.
“The examples we have (as mentioned earlier) and any other long distance bulk commodities benefit from rail links. The origination and receiving operations on either side of the railway need to be operational. That will require more than just a “move from road to rail”.In the meantime, we need to deal with non-compliant operators (or any users of public roads).”