‘Harmonised road regulations crucial’

THERE’S A need for harmonised road regulations throughout Southern Africa because at the moment it’s a mess of varying regulations in each individual country, according to Matthew Abraham of African Cargo Management (ACM). “For example, try transporting through SA, Botswana and Zambia,” he said, “and there are three countries with three utterly different sets of rules. “Someone needs to take the initiative for one unified system of regulations.” The current situation means that in SA, for example, the permissible maximum mass of a heavy commercial vehicle is measured by the gross vehicle mass (GVM) on each axle, Abraham added. “This allows you to start off at this end with a 56-ton mass, with an allowance of 5%, before you hit the legal limit. But then you enter Zambia, and they have no allowance, so you are immediately overloaded as you cross that border.” Another point raised by Abraham is opposition to the contentious “3rd country” rule. “An example of this is that Zimbabwean carriers coming into SA can legally pick up goods here for onward transport to Congo or Zambia. “But, if we as SA transporters tried the same thing in Zimbabwe, we’d get hit by the authorities imposing the 3rd country restriction in that country.” Abraham feels that other countries tend to protect the interests of their domestic transport industry, but not so in SA. The SA operators need to respond as a body and get things changed so that we get the same 3rd country uplift rights.” Another complaint from Abraham is that port costs in SA are excessive compared to other ports in the region. “We do transport and logistics,” he said, “and the cost of operating through Durban, for example, is becoming more prohibitive. Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, for example, is so competitive because the port costs are so much less.” He also pointed to China developing a rail line from Angola to Congo. “If that comes off,” Abraham added, “that will open up another route into the southern region, and we’ll be under even more threat transporting through Durban.” Security of goods as trucks travel through SA is also a concern for the transport into Africa operators. “With the present rate of vehicle hijacking and cargo theft in this country,” Abraham said, “we have to guard the vehicles right through SA – and that just adds more to our costs.”