‘Over-reliance on road could cost SA dearly’

South Africa’s overreliance on road transport could cost it dearly, says Dr Jan Havenga of the University of Stellenbosch. “It is important to note that South Africa needs more transport than other countries for several reasons, including the fact that the economic centre is some 600km from the nearest port. That does not mean, however, that we should not be looking at implementing ways of decreasing these unusually high costs.” He said while some factors could be controlled, others like the fuel price were reason to be concerned. “It is an external factor that this country has no control over. A jump in the fuel price, as one can expect after a recession, will therefore impact much more on South Africa than another country, making us less globally competitive. Real transport costs are high and prone to fluctuations.” He said while the country remained reliant on road it would remain vulnerable to fuel prices. “Hypothetically speaking what happens if the price of fuel goes up by 300% in the next five years? We have no control over the increase in the oil price. The reality is that as these external factors fluctuate, our logistics efficiency gap widens.” He said while there was consensus that South Africa needed to upgrade rail in an effort to use it more, not enough was being done to actually move freight to this mode of transport.