'Let's work together to ramp up efficiency' – Ramos

HOW CAN we position our
ports, our infrastructure and
our transport and logistics
to take advantage of a very
good global environment?
That was the question
posed by Transnet CEO
Maria Ramos at last week’s
Intermodal Africa 2007.
“We know that one
of the key elements that
differentiate developed and
developing countries is the
cost of inputs – and those
costs are primarily energy,
telecommunications and
transport and logistics.
“In South Africa we’ve
always had a pretty good
energy environment, but
transport and logistics
costs are too high. And
the efficiency of our ports
is clearly one of the most
important elements in the
chain.”
According to Ramos, a
World Bank report estimates
that bad ports are the
equivalent of being 0%
further away from markets
for an average country.
“South Africa, because of
its geography, with the bulk
of economic activity based
in Gauteng, will always be
transport-intensive.
“And if you think how
transport-intensive it is in
relation to the population
size, you see how important
it is to get the intermodal
logistics chain working more
efficiently.”
In terms of export
corridors, BMW’s
manufacturing takes place
in Rosslyn and has to be
exported a long distance to
the ports. “This leads to long
export and import corridor
requirements.”
Add to that the ocean
freight costs which were
estimated in a recent study
to account for 73% of the
total logistics costs in SA.
Clearly waiting time and
pre-berthing intervals for
ships must be addressed
to ramp up port efficiency,
but at the same time better
information on ETAs for
ships in and out of the ports
is critical “We are making
good progress with our
business partners in this
regard,” she said.
In terms of rail costs and
efficiencies, a benchmarking
exercise undertaken by
Spoornet revealed that
South Africa’s rail costs,
based on a per ton per
kilometre rate, were among
the cheapest in the world,
said Ramos.
But the crux is whether
the train reaches the port
and offloads the containers
within a reasonable period
of time, and here she
concedes that it takes too
long.
Clearly we’re all on the
same page in terms of
needs and methodology in
order to ramp up supply
chain efficiency. What we
need is a collective effort
to translate good intentions
into practice, she added.