Predictable train service is working well
THE PREDICTABLE train service between the country's three main ports and the macro-market in Gauteng are all running to an acceptable standard, according to Lawrie Bateman, director of Container Logistics (ConLog).
This started with Spoornet and Portnet introducing a priority train service between Durban and Gauteng. It sees urgent containers literally jumping the queue - and catching an earlier schedule than was originally planned.
In Port Elizabeth and Cape Town a similar system of advancing the loading of an urgent container has since been introduced.
We have a time limit on the PE to City Deep and Pretcon runs, said Bateman, and we have had no complaints so far.
It is a system which does have its limits, according to Bateman. It is okay for the ones and twos of urgent boxes, he said. But someone coming along with 100 would throw the whole thing out.
However, he added, that man with
100 boxes hasn't appeared yet, and the
predictable train service is currently
meeting all the demands the market is making on it.
