Bi-directional rail strategy makes inroads

A strong bi-directional
strategy – focused on
a balance between
outgoing and incoming
cargo – combined with a
competitive rate structure
and improved efficiency
will see Transnet Freight
Rail (TFR) realising its
ambitions of attaining a
30% road to rail migration
by 2022, according to rail
strategist Ian Bird.
“At the end of the day,
customers don’t care which
mode of transport is used
to move their goods from
A to B. All they want is
cost-effective, efficient
and reliable service and
speed to market,” he told
delegates at a joint FTW/
JCCI business breakfast
focused on TFR’s road to
rail strategy last week.
Bird said TFR had
made “good strides” in
developing a competitive
price structure based on
its new bi-directional
strategy. “The price will be
able to compete with road
transport but of course the
challenge is maintaining
that bi-directional
balance.”
According to
Bird, customers who
traditionally used the
option of roadfreight had
shown willingness to look
at TFR’s bi-directional
f low strategy and the new
rates offering.
He acknowledged that
TFR needed investment to
achieve its objective and
that the multi-billion rand
Market Demand Strategy
(MDS) was the key element
in a shift of traffic from
road to rail.
“TFR has also
recognised
that it
requires
the skills of
experienced
supply chain
partners to
deliver on
this MDS
commitment
to the
country and
therefore
customers
and cargo
owners
should be encouraged
to align their business
strategies to a rail or at
least an intermodal supply
chain solution,” Bird said.
There were a number of
investment opportunities,
he outlined, ranging from
hardware such as intermodal
terminals,
materials
and handling
equipment,
containers,
wagons and
shunting
locmotives;
and software
such as
simulation
technologies,
transport
management
systems and
network
modelling; to
what he termed “warmware”
such as marketing, operational
skills and experience and
design capabilities.
INSERT AND CAPTION
At the end of the
day, customers don’t
care which mode of
transport is used to
move their goods
from A to B.
– Ian Bird