CAPTION:
The Department of Transport’s
new Road Freight Strategy
– unveiled by Minister of
Transport, Joe Maswanganyi,
and approved by Cabinet
last week – highlights an
“urgent need” for an operator
registration system that would
assist in curbing problems
such as unlicensed and
unroadworthy vehicles.
According to a spokesperson
for the Department of
Transport, the system will
further assist in the collation
of freight data, planning and
regulation of the sector.
Full details of the strategy,
along with an implementation
date, have yet to be confirmed.
Transport economist
Andrew Marsay told FTW this
was a “positive development”,
adding however that it tended
to focus more on managing the
“negative externalities” of road
freight – accidents, pollution,
road damage etc – rather than
on the positive externalities
such as the facilitation of
business and the flexibility of
response to market needs.
