CLIVE EMDON A CONSORTIUM of road freight hauliers has added a rail option to its service offering with the opening of a container depot with sidings in Kaserne. Rising fuel costs and Spoornet’s drive to increase rail freight traffic have motivated the move to establish a national road and rail container freight station. “We hope to make the best of both worlds,” said Nandha Naidoo, a spokesman for the group, who said the facility would open in September. “Our objective is to provide a secure, efficient and cost-effective storage, handling and on-forwarding solution for all transit cargo types whether import or export through South African ports.” He said the customs bonded facility would be capable of handling the full spectrum of imports and exports – full container loads, groupage as well as conventional cargo and motor vehicles. The depot is in the process of being licensed to handle all uncleared FCL traffic and will provide for SARS examinations and inspections. It is a 28 000m2 site capable of handling 2 000 teus and will be equipped to clean containers and handle repairs. The depot will be managed by TrackIT, a depot management system provided by Biztorque, which provides comprehensive tracking of inbound and outbound containers. It will cater for empty and full containers.
