New tracking technology expedites sea to rail logistics

Cross border business will be more essential to Swaziland Railway’s profitability in 2011 than any time before. “The transhipments we handle from South Africa keep us in business, and we are seeing more activity there,” Gideon Mahlalela, CEO of Swaziland Railways since 1993, told FTW. Minerals are the railway’s chief cargo, and this past year has seen an upswing in the product passing through the kingdom. “75% of our cargo is rock phosphate and magnetite shipped from Phalaborwa. We have hired extra locomotives to handle the pick-up in traffic,” reported Mahlalela. If they are needed elsewhere by Transnet Freight Rail, SA locomotives are swopped for Swaziland Railway’s locomotives at Komatipoort for the 290 km journey to Richard’s Bay. If as is expected Swaziland’s government opens up mineral excavation in the country in the year ahead, more domestic mineral cargo, particularly coal, will add to the rail system’s traffic. At the company’s Inland Container Depot or “dry port” at the Matsapha Industrial Estate, business has gradually picked up over the months from a slow start in 2010, just as new tracking technology was being employed to expedite sea to rail logistics. “We are now monitoring cargo as it’s floating at sea, en route. Mid-2010 was when we started using the internet and computers linked to the vessels, and we talk to clients to make logistics plans once we determine (ship) arrival times,” Mahlalela said. “We are in a solid position as a company. Our cash flow is okay. A few years ago I had to retrench half of our people. We had 700 employees at the time, and the move was controversial. But I knew I had to do it to stay competitive and make the company lean and efficient. I personally reported the plans to King Mswati and the Queen Mother, because job loss is a sensitive issue. But it had to be done and because of that we were able to weather the worst recession we have encountered,” Mahlalela said.