DoT denies high cube ban plan

The National Department
of Transport has denied
claims that the ban on
the transport of high
cube containers is to be
reinstated in KwaZulu Natal
from March 25. This was
confirmed by KZN Road
Traffic Inspectorate (RTI)
director John Schnell who
described the information as
‘mischievous’.
DoT spokesman Sam
Monareng told FTW last
week that he was not aware
of any such plans. This
follows an ‘unofficial’
warning received from the
Road Freight Association
that the start of the April
school holidays was D-day.
“I believe the originators
of the email are trying to
pre-empt the situation to
their advantage to secure
a concession they are not
entitled to on the basis of
a precedent or what they
claim to be a precedent. So
the short answer is no – the
ban will not be reinstated,”
Schnell told FTW.
The row over the legality
of transporting high-cube
containers (with a travel
height of 4.5-4.6 metres)
on normal rather than lowbed
truck trailers hit the
headlines in December
and threatened to bring the
industry to a standstill. At
the time the DoT said the
height restriction legislation
was introduced to ensure
that trucks did not pose a
hazard to other road users
and was based on the height
of some bridges. But the
crisis was averted and a
moratorium was placed
on the ban, thanks to the
intervention of the Durban harbour carriers’ division
of the SA Association
of Freight Forwarders in
KwaZulu Natal and
the RFA.
Business Unity South
Africa recently sent a
strongly worded letter to the
Department of Transport
calling for an urgent lifting
of the selective ban on
high cubes.
“The total height of a
high cube loaded onto
standard transport trailers
exceeds the limit set in
South Africa’s transport
regulations by around 300
millimetres,” said Busa
CEO Jerry Vilakazi.
‘”The total height,
however, is still below that
of a double-decker bus or a
standard car carrier, both of
which are exempt from the
height restriction and are
therefore legally allowed to
operate on public roads.
“Busa is not aware of any
problems with low bridges
on the major routes used for
the transport of containers,”
said Vilakazi.
If transporters are
required to use low-bed
trailers this would mean
manufacturers would have
to design and build new
trailers at immense cost,
he added.
The bottom line, says
Vilakazi, is that 90%
of containers will soon
conform to the high
cube dimensions.
“In addition the new
handling equipment
installed in all our ports
is designed to handle
high cubes. All trading
countries in the world are
managing the transport of
high cube containers and
in many instances are also
transporting them on
similar trailers.”
Busa has therefore
proposed that the
regulations on height
restrictions be amended
to legalise the movement
of ISO high cubes –
along similar lines to the
exemption for doubledecker
buses.
“This should be preceded
by a renewed moratorium
until the regulations come
into effect.”