RFA, Spoornet and DoT begin collaborative talks KEVIN MAYHEW THE ROAD Freight Association, Spoornet and the National Department of Transport have begun collaborative talks designed to address the imbalance between rail and road freight. This is in the light of recent revelations in The National Freight Logistics Strategy that freight moved by road grew by about 200 million metric tonnes to about 920 metric tonnes, while rail grew by a mere five million tonnes. “The danger is that more and more rail friendly cargo now moves on roads and this creates problems for government at all levels with respect to road maintenance and development,” Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe said at a recent ‘Truckers’ Day’ event. He cautioned that the government could not allow growth of the road transport sector and its contribution to the economy to undermine the need for preserving and protecting the road infrastructure for sustained economic growth and development. Initiatives His department was embarking on a number of initiatives that would feed on the overall freight logistics strategy, he added. Such an initiative is the Load Accreditation Programme (LAP) that seeks to promote self-overload control and possible self regulation of the road freight sector. He said present pilots for the programme in KwaZulu-Natal would indicate the areas on which the department should focus to deal with chronic and perpetual overloaders on the road network while rewarding those acting responsibly. “The Department would also like to have a statutory body established to take the role of enforcer of the Road Transport Quality Systems (RTQS) and other road freight related matters. We have had preliminary discussions, but I would like to know how the RFA feels about these discussions and would encourage the RFA to engage with appropriate officials in my department on this matter,” he said.
