Blue IQ puts City Deep hub on hold

Clearer view of shipper needs to be gauged LEONARD NEILL PLANS TO develop the City Deep transport logistics hub in Gauteng have been put on hold while project co-ordinators gain a more positive understanding of user requirements, says Blue IQ project manager Irvin Naidoo. “The road works have been completed, and now we need to gain a clearer view of what the shippers require before taking further steps,” he says. “We believe it would be more beneficial to get everything in place before we start up again, rather than find the pitfalls when the project has been completed. “This affects mainly the logistics hub where no timeframe has been set. With the roads ready the problem of mobility has been overcome. Now we are looking at the rail service as the critical factor We won’t implement any programme until we have a concrete plan and have identified solutions to the existing problems.” The goal of the City Deep logistics hub is to use the existing cluster of logistics service providers and transport infrastructure in City Deep to provide better support to Gauteng’s manufacturing sector, he says. Those reliant on containerised freight for imports and exports are top priority. The hub, when completed, will include a logistics super-corridor, bonded warehouse facilities, quick-loading, off-loading and freight transfer handling capabilities. It will be fully multimodal, providing demand-responsive supply chains, decision-support systems with data interchange, electronic trading capabilities and consignment tracking and tracing facilities. The road programme, which was implemented by the Johannesburg Roads Agency, provided for the upgrading of Lower Germiston Road and Rosherville West Road and the construction of the Cleveland link road. The R62million initially provided by the Gauteng provincial government has almost been swallowed up by these projects, says Naidoo, and approaches are now being made to the province for the addition funding needed for the logistics hub development. Blue IQ and Transnet with selected land owners are behind the development.