THE LOGIC behind the new rates restructuring by Spoornet has been challenged as flawed by voices amongst the railways' band of users (See page 1).
Vishnu Reddy of Read Shipping was the only one of these to make his name public, but his views have been echoed by others who discussed the matter with FTW.
The major challenge is that the new rates structure favours imports at the expense of exports - the area of trade that is seen as an economic lifeline for SA, and to which government has lent its weight.
The suspicion has also been expressed that the structure favours the shipping lines - again at the exporters' expense.
The marketing logic behind part of Spoornet's discounting policy - that cut-pricing encourages demand - has also been questioned.
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