Durban corridor under-utilised

While Durban is a key

port for all cargo

heading north

into sub-Saharan

Africa – and the corridor is

well-established – the use of

multimodal logistics is still underutilised,

particularly by third

party logistics providers.

So said Fergus Fitch, regional

director: KwaZulu Natal for SDV,

pointing out that the intermodal

sea to road option was well

supported by carriers but that 3PL

service providers could make much

more use of the corridor.

He told FTW that SDV South

Africa’s biggest challenges

faced on sea to road transport

modes were around free time,

container deposits, detention

and demurrage, all of which were

shipping line related.

Fitch said the company had

found a way to mitigate that with

the launch of its Inland Africa

programme which focused on

corridor development. “Due to

the fact that Inland Africa was

launched in 2014 in West Africa,

we have had a lot of experience in

setting up multimodal corridors

and, as such, have applied a

uniform approach across all of

our corridors. Obviously where

necessary these are adapted to

cater to the local environment,

however the principle remains the

same.”

The challenges around SDV’s air

to road platform lie in convincing

the market of the reliability of

Africa’s road transport. “This

challenge was overcome by

delivering on our commitments

to transit times and no additional

costs,” Fitch pointed out.

According to him sea to rail

is where the biggest multimodal

focus should be in future. “The

success of that is of course very

much dependent on government

and/or private investment in the

rail sector with particular focus

on cross-country rail solutions,”

Fitch said.

CAPTION

The N3 highway between Durban and Johannesburg is a well-established

logistics corridor.