Fuel remains by far the most urgent and volatile logistical challenge in South Africa, but soft infrastructure deficiencies come a very close second. According to Prof Jan Havenga, director at the Centre for Supply Chain Management at Stellenbosch University, issues such as skills shortages and the lack of institutional capacity are less tangible than the everrising fuel cost and have been growing over a decade or more. “They may be less frontof- mind but are a major challenge that we have to overcome. The fuel price increase we see on the front page of the newspaper every few months and so we are aware and concerned about it.” But possible solutions for the lack of soft infrastructure get far less exposure. “Frankly I’m not sure what is happening in terms of it. Many larger companies in industry (including Transnet and the larger logistics service providers) are setting up centres of excellence, in-house training facilities and the like. Unfortunately this doesn’t solve the problems we have in basic education and I don’t know what the government is doing about it,” says Havenga. Developing skills has to start at school level and concerns have been raised over the quality of the country’s education system – especially maths and science. At the same time young people have to be enticed to take up logistics as a career.
