The gloves are off as industry prepares to battle government over the pending lifting of a moratorium that will see the movement of high cube containers in the country restricted to a height of 4.3m. “We are heading for an international disaster of massive proportions,” said Mike Fitzmaurice, CEO of the Federation of East and Southern African Road Transport Associations (Fesarta). “We will have to battle this out as an industry as the economic impact of complying with this legislation once the moratorium is lifted will result in a total crisis.” Most experts contacted by FTW said the 4.3-metre restriction was simply impossible. “Especially not on the margins that transporters operate on,” said Arend du Preez of Crossroads. “The rates simply do not justify the capex requirement. It would be unaffordable.” It was for this reason that one would be hard-pressed to find any operator in the country that had already invested in new trailers to transport high cube containers, Gavin Kelly, spokesman for the Road Freight Association (RFA) told FTW. Measuring 2.9m, high cube containers, when transported on the back of a normal transport vehicle, exceed the height of 4.3m as prescribed by South African law, coming in at around 4.6m. A moratorium implemented in 2011 currently gives blanket exemption to all ISO containers where the overall height exceeds 4.3m. Come January 1, 2019 the department of transport will enforce regulation 224 of the National Road Traffic Act and the moratorium will be lifted. Industry maintains the purpose of the moratorium was not to give transporters time to transform their fleets but rather for the government to investigate and research why they wanted to restrict container height. Government on the other hand has denied this. In Parliament, the DoT gave the following answer when asked about their research and investigation into high cube transportation and plans come 2019. “It was not the role of the department to conduct any investigation. The reprieve was to allow the operators to procure and ensure that they comply with the provisions of the Act.” The DoT said it had not undertaken any investigation and would enforce the legislation because the industry had been given time to ensure that they complied. “That is a downright lie,” said Kevin Martin of Freightliner Transport who was chairman of the Harbour Carriers’ Association in 2011 when the moratorium was put in place. “I sat in the meetings and we disproved every reason they came up with to justify the 4.3m height restriction. Claims that these containers were unstable were proved wrong; then they said we would be hitting the rooves over the service basins at fuel stations and we proved that incorrect,” he said. “The last resort they finally came up with was to say when the roads were resurfaced trucks carrying containers higher than 4.3m would be hitting bridges. They also complained about industry experts disputing their statements and the decision was then made that government would do its own research and revert back to industry on why they were insisting on the 4.3m height. They never came back to us.” Both Martin and Kelly maintain there was never any agreement made or undertaking given that the fleets in the country would be transformed. “It would cost billions,” said Dave Watts, an independent industry expert. “Of course, you can make a trailer capable of carrying a 40-foot high cube under 4.30m, but that is not what this is about. The problem is economics. The trucking industry cannot afford it.” South Africa has been transporting high cubes since the 90s and over the past six years there have been no incidents – calling into question allegations about safety. While it’s not possible to determine how many low bed trailers are available in the country to meet the 4.3m height restriction, estimates range from 10 to 100. What is known is that if the government imposes this height restriction, all of South Africa’s fruit exports will immediately come to a standstill as the entire reefer fleet is high cube. “Then they must deal with the effects of a port filled to the brim with containers that cannot be moved,” said Martin. “Unless of course they are planning to give transporters the money to upgrade their fleets.” What further compounded the situation, said Fitzmaurice, was the fact that neighbouring countries such as Zimbabwe, Zambia and Tanzania had all changed their legislation to 4.6m. “Barring these vehicles will contravene the SADC Protocol for Transport and it will be recorded as a nontariff barrier,” he said.
