Industry speculation that the moratorium on the movement of high cube containers on South African roads will be extended has proved correct. Mike Walwyn, a consultant for the South African Association of Freight Forwarders and industry representative on the high cube issue, confirmed to FTW that the moratorium allowing high cubes to move at heights of 4.6m would officially be extended to June 2021. The new ruling was due to come into force on January 1. “We have been given this assurance by officials of the Department of Transport who are in the process of having the moratorium extension gazetted before the end of the year,” he said. “During the next 18 months the department will commission a study on the transport of high cube containers to determine how safe they are.” This was very similar to the agreement reached between the DoT and industry at the end of last year when the then moratorium was about to expire. Attempts during 2019 to commission a research study on high cubes did not transpire. Walwyn said industry maintained that nountoward incidents had occurred involving high cubes, but the DoT was adamant about conducting research into the safe transport of the containers. More than 1.5 million of these containers are transported across southern Africa every year. This means more than 7 million high cube containers have been moved at heights of 4.6m since the inception of the moratorium back in 2011. It is believed that the DoT has managed to secure the necessary budget for the research study, one of the main reasons it put forward for not completing the research in 2019. Walwyn said it was a relief that the moratorium was being extended as the current transport fleet would not be able to convert to the legal height of 4.3m by January. Gavin Cooper, a past Western Cape chairman of Saaff, said the move to extend the moratorium was expected. “The can has just been kicked down the road again. With only a month to go what else could have happened?” Several industry stakeholders told FTW that the situation around high cubes remained preposterous, was myopic and a waste of time. According to Cooper a study, mooted many years ago, would only prove what industry already knows and that is that high cubes are as safe on the road as any other ISO container or load being conveyed. “They are not, as perceived by DoT, inherently a problem on the roads and are critical to the conveyance of goods into and out of South Africa. In these tight economic times the changes mooted by the DoT would be catastrophic to the logistics industry and the economies of South Africa and the southern African region,” he said. “I certainly see that the extension now being made by the DoT is a logical and practical decision. The DoT however must not, as they have done in the past, drag their heels on this matter as it must be resolved and put to bed sooner rather than later.” Vernon Rawstorne of Container Domestic Services said the money being spent on a research study could be better used elsewhere. “It really is so simple; just change the regulation and get on with it,” he said.
