New plan to address overloading on over-border routes

Plans are in place to replicate South Africa’s Road Transport Management System (RTMS) on the North-South corridor in order to reduce overloading and create a win-win formula for truckers and their customers on overborder routes. The RTMS was launched in South Africa more than ten years ago as an industry-led, voluntary self-regulation scheme that encourages consignees, consignors and transport operators engaged in road transport to implement a vehicle management system that ensures compliance with rules and regulations, ultimately improving road safety and preserving the infrastructure. While the system originally started as a Load Accreditation Programme (LAP) involving the trucking fraternity only, it soon evolved into an industry-led initiative that included the Department of Transport and the sugar, coal and timber industries – and the results speak for themselves. At a meeting of the RTMS National Steering Committee last month, it was revealed that overloading prevalence in the forestry industry had come down from 16% to 5% since 2007. Transporters are in fact refused access to Sappi and Mondi mills if they are habitual overloaders. Similar trends are evident in the sugar and coal industries where overloading has been significantly reduced. This is the measure of its success in South Africa. “It can also be shown that the companies accredited to the system actually run better and improve their bottom lines,” says Barney Curtis, executive director of the Federation of East and Southern African Road Transport Associations (Fesarta), who has been tasked with sensitising the cross-border market on the issues involved in successful implementation. “For the system to work it needs to be professional, credible and very well managed,” says Curtis. “It must be professionally audited on an annual basis to ensure that companies that are part of the system are complying, and the standards by which the system is regulated must be set up by a professional body like the SA Bureau of Standards.” Fesarta is part of the National Steering Committee and its brief is to extend the system along the road transport corridors in East and southern Africa. “We must work with Customs to link with their accreditation system,” says Curtis “and get the buyin from the government authorities in countries beyond South Africa’s borders.” While the concept of selfregulation has been wellreceived in Africa, it will need careful management, he added. “We’ve had a few meetings on the pilot project on the Trans Kalahari Corridor and Customs is considering how it can fit in with accreditation. It is a long slow process.” The next step will be to set up information sessions in Gaborone and Windhoek to demonstrate the benefits of the concept. “We will use the South African standards as the basis and adjust them to suit regional requirements. “It won’t happen overnight – it’s taken years to get it operational in South Africa. The concept is easy to understand – but to make it happen and be sustainable as a professional system is a lot more complex. “What’s important,” says Curtis, “is that the first steps have been taken, and with the SA blueprint in place, there’s a clear point of departure.”