Transforming South Africa’s trailer fleet to meet the height restrictions for high cube containers that take effect next year will cost millions – and nor is there enough time to complete this mammoth undertaking.
On January 1 a seven-year moratorium that has allowed the movement of high cubes on the back of a trailer at a height of 4.6m in South Africa will be lifted and a 4.3m height restriction will apply.
According to Otto van Griethuysen of Erera Logistics and Consulting, a design for a lower trailer is available but costs a lot more than the current trailers. “We have a design and theoretically speaking we can start making them, but it is a very expensive trailer to manufacture. It needs air suspension which alone is another R50 000 on top of the normal trailer price,” he said during a panel discussion on high cube containers at the annual Road Freight Association (RFA) conference recently.
“It also needs imported steel and takes at least an extra two days to build which all adds further cost. The question is not whether it is possible to get these trailers in South Africa, but whether it is financially possible. The answer is a simple no.”
Van Griethuysen, a leading authority in the country on road freight equipment, said with the best will in the world the industry could not meet the January 1 deadline – even if they were buying readymade trailers elsewhere.
“Finding enough trailers to meet our needs would be difficult because the rest of the world transports high cubes at 4.6m and not 4.3m,” he said. “On the question of whether there are trailers available to move these containers at 4.3m the answer is yes, but it is not affordable to the industry as a whole.”
According to economist Mike Schüssler, the economic impact would be huge. “The cost of the trailers currently being used is between R300 000 and R400 000 per trailer. One also has to remember that these trailers can be used to move other cargo so recouping the investment for a trailer that can only be used to move high cubes will be near impossible.” Van Griethuysen said South Africa’s containers initially had to be moved on trailers not exceeding a height of 4.1m which was then changed to 4.3m.
“This was as industry was moving to bigger payloads and there were thicker necks on the trailers. There were many technical reasons at the time why South Africa chose to go to 4.3m.” The law, however, remained at 4.3m while the rest of the world moved predominantly to high cubes which means that on the current trailer fleet these containers are 30cm too high. A moratorium was implemented for seven years to allow industry to transform its fleet, according to the Department of Transport.
Industry has however contested this version of events. According to Van Griethuysen a serious concern is the possibility of operators refurbishing existing trailers rather than manufacturing new ones to meet the 4.3m height requirement in an effort to save money.
“In South Africa we are known for making a plan and trying to fix everything with a cutting torch and a crowbar – and in this case, it will not work,” he said. “You could lower the front end of the trailer maybe by 80mm and replace the tyres, although I doubt you would get to the 4.3m. It is a grave concern that people will try to make the trailers lower using a cheap option such as this, but the reality is we need new trailers to meet the legal requirement.”
Commenting on what would happen to the current fleet, he said it would have to be turned into scrap as it would be unfit for any other purpose.
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With the best will in the world the industry cannot meet the January 1 deadline — even if they were buying ready-made trailers elsewhere. – Otto van Griethuysen
