'Economic woes won't deter Transnet'

Transnet Port Terminals
(TPT) will continue to create
capacity ahead of demand
despite the lack of economic
growth and plummeting
volumes, according to its chief
executive, Karl Socikwa.
Speaking in Cape Town
at a Transnet stakeholders’
breakfast recently, Socikwa
said the freight utility was
as committed to the market
demand strategy (MDS) now
as it had been at the launch
of the capital investment
programme four years ago.
“Creating capacity
ahead of demand to enable
unrestrained growth remains
the driving force,” he said.
“Of course remaining
financialy viable is crucial to
continuously feed the beast. “
He said in terms of
South Africa being globally
competitive, the success of the
country’s port, railway and
pipeline system was crucial.
“We also continuously
look at the demand profile
to ensure we are on track.
One must not forget when
we launched the MDS we
were anticipating growth
rates of around 2.5% with
aspirations of 5%. We are
seeing figures of only about
0.8% at the moment and it is
still dropping.”
Socikwa said despite this
Transnet as a group was still
very much behind the MDS.
“Despite the low growth
and the drop in volumes – we
did come in below budget
last year – we will continue
to invest in our operations.
This type of counter-cyclical
investment is not new and we
have come through it before.”
He said in 2008/9 South
Africa had tightened its
belts only to emerge from
the recession with a huge
infrastructure backlog that
had impacted the market even
more negatively.
“We do not want to be
there again. We will therefore
continue to invest. The
figures may change as we do
our annual validation but
ultimately our goal remains
the same – to make sure we
have a competent freight
transport infrastructure in
South Africa.”