Cross-border rail uniformity tops Spoornet agenda

SPOORNET HAS committed itself to working with its overborder railway counterparts to make services uniform and remove the perception that rail is the second cousin to rail once out of South Africa. This is according to the general manager of Spoornet’s National Operations Centre, Anand Moodliar, who told guests at the announcement of a partnership between BOSS Logistics and empowerment rail value chain company MENDO Holdings in Johannesburg last week that uniformity was necessary to create an SADC-wide railway service for freight that is reliable and predictable. “This is what will enable us to challenge the dominance of road over rail. We are looking at a number of options to achieve this, but it is a priority,” he said. He added that within South Africa Spoornet was aiming to increase its share of general freight from 88mt a year at present to 160mt by the year 2010, but it would initially look at increasing market share of its existing client base that is using both road and rail. In announcing the partnership with rail value chain company MENDO Holdings, the founder and CEO of BOSS Logistics, Andries van Schalkwyk, said that it offered BOSS greater capacity to utilise the improving rail potential within SADC, about which they were very positive. MENDO Holdings retains its identity and will have a 30% stake of BOSS. A further 10% is being negotiated with MENDO to involve other BEE entities.