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.”