Freight demand model helps Transnet's investment planning

MATCHING INFRASTRUCTURE investment to predicted growth is a universal challenge – and South
Africa’s current port, rail, road and
power under-supply is evidence of
getting the sums wrong. Transnet has however over the past few years developed a model
with the University of Stellenbosch
to match supply to different levels of
demand. “It gives us some idea of when we
would run out of capacity in the Port
of Durban, for example, if container
growth was 10% rather than 8% or
12% as opposed to 8% – and what
kind of infrastructure we would need
from a rail or port point of view,”
Transnet group CEO Maria Ramos said
at a press briefing last week.
“We have a freight demand model
which we use as a planning tool. It
gives us an indication of when we
need to build and take decisions in
terms of our planning.
“We then work with our key clients
to establish what they are projecting,
how they see the market and when
they will need more capacity from us.
“It’s an interactive way of
determining when and how we need
to plan our infrastructure.”