Gauteng shines in provincial logistics study

Gauteng is the best performing province in terms of facilitating logistics activities within and outside its borders, according to a study conducted earlier this year by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). The Provincial Logistics Capability (PLC) study findings were presented recently by Livison Mashoko, research engineer at CSIR, who said the outcome was based on five weighted criteria: infrastructure (roads), labour (skills availability and costs), location (crime and market access), services (financial services) and regulations (policy). In the study, “still in its infancy but hoped to be an annual event” according to Mashoko, KwaZulu Natal ranked second and the Western Cape took the third position. Mpumalanga was ranked fourth, the Free State fifth, North West sixth, with the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and Northern Cape taking up the bottom three spots respectively. He said that there was some correlation between the provinces’ logistics capability positioning and their contributions to national gross domestic product (GDP), especially in the top three provinces which were an exact match. This was not the case lower down the ranks. “For example, while the Free State was ranked fifth in terms of logistics capability, it was only the country’s eighthlargest contributor to GDP,” said Mashoko. Gauteng contributes 34.5% of the country’s GDP, KwaZulu Natal 15.7% and the Western Cape a total of 14.2%, according to the study.