‘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.”