High cube dispute back in the spotlight

The Department of Transport
(DoT) has accused industry
of not meeting its part of an
agreement reached seven years
ago to end the movement of
high cube containers on South
African roads.
The department has
confirmed to FTW its intention
to enforce regulation 224 of the
National Road Traffic Act once
the moratorium is lifted on
January 1, 2019.
This rekindles the longstanding
dispute between the
DoT and industry regarding
the transportation of high
cube containers. Measuring
2.9m, these containers when
transported on the back of a
normal transport vehicle exceed
the height of 4.3 metres as
prescribed by South African
law.
A moratorium was
implemented in 2011 giving
blanket exemption to all ISO
containers where the overall
height exceeds 4.3 metres.
The DoT’s John Motsatsing
told FTW there would be no
new introduction of a height
restriction on high cube
containers in 2019 as the height
restriction of 4.3 metres had
been in existence all along.
The height, however, was
never enforced until 2009
when traffic officers from the
Kwa-Zulu Natal and Eastern
Cape departments of transport
started stopping vehicles
exceeding the height.
With a large portion of South
Africa’s containers exceeding
the height this brought
container movements to a
near standstill, with industry
unable to move to low bed
trailers for the transportation
of containers not only due to a
shortage of supply of equipment
but also due to the massive cost
involved.
“The Department has not
amended any legislation to
restrict the transportation of
high cube containers,” said
Motsatsing. “It must be clear
that the industry approached
the department to request a
reprieve.”
He said the DoT had
acceded to the request
and committed to the
moratorium that ends in
January 2019.
“The DoT granted the
sector seven years to procure
the relevant trailers that are
used by the international
community to transport
these high cube containers,”
he said. “But they have
not met their part of the
agreement.”
Gavin Kelly, a spokesman
for the Road Freight
Association (RFA), however
said no such agreement had
ever been reached.
“It was agreed that operators
could continue to move ISO
containers exceeding the height
regulation of 4.3m until 2019
while government undertook
research into the matter,” he
explained to FTW. “Never did
industry undertake or commit
to changing the entire fleet of
trailers to ensure they met the
required 4.3m restriction.”
Maritime consultant for
the South African Association
of Freight Forwarders,
Dave Watts, said several
organisations – including
Saaff, the Citrus Growers’
Association, the RFA and the
Harbour Carriers’ Association
– had been involved in the
discussions with government
that had resulted in the
moratorium.
“It would be beyond belief
that any of the stakeholders
representing industry at the
time would have agreed that
the next seven years would be
used to transform the fleet to
low bed trailers,” said Watts.
“Industry did not have the
financial means to do it then
as they don’t have the financial
means to do it now.”
According to Kelly
government at the time
rejected industry’s research
on high cubes saying they
would grant the exemption
in order to undertake their
own research into the matter.
No one ever indicated to
industry that they should use
the time given to prepare for
implementation either – and
that it was all a foregone
conclusion that come 2019
a height restriction of 4.3
metres would have to be
adhered to.
“Of course none of this is
in writing anywhere,” Kelly
told FTW. “Government’s
main contention at the time
was that the high cubes
were unstable and they said
they would research this
during the time granted by
the moratorium – and once
they had the research they
would then make a final
decision. About four years on
questions were raised on the
extent of the research and
at the time we were told the
research was ongoing.”
Kelly said to date not a
single incident had been
recorded where a truck had
rolled because of a high cube
container being unstable or
too high.
Watts concurred saying
ISO containers had been
moving in South Africa
without any safety incidents
for more than 20 years.
“There is no substance to
claims that high cubes are
unstable or unsafe,” he said.