Port shuttle service to be rolled out to several manufacturers

After recording
growth of more
than 20% in
its automotive
business over the past three
years, Transnet Freight Rail
has put in place several new
initiatives to further grow
this lucrative sector.
“It’s been a great success
story,” executive manager,
intermodal business unit
Wiseman Madinane told
FTW. “We spent half a billion
rand on 700 wagons last
year and are now looking
for funding to create more
capacity.”
But Madinane believes
that public/private
partnerships are the way
to go. “We are encouraging
OEMs (original equipment
manufacturers) to invest in
wagons – and discussions are
under way.
“We’ve achieved this very
successfully with Sasol which
owns some of its wagons.
The wagons
they need tend
to be very
specialised and
are therefore
very expensive.
When Transnet
invests often
the product
development
does not take
into account
the limitations
of the
equipment in
which we have invested, and
we then sit with an obsolete
asset because the cars have
got bigger.”
Madinane believes that if a
product is owned by an OEM
they will be more cognisant
of the equipment next time
they do product development.
“The investment we made in
2012 was largely as a result
of that – we
had wagons
we couldn’t
use because
they were no
longer big
enough for
the cars being
produced.
“That’s one
of the reasons
we believe
that OEMs
need to be
part of the
rolling stock ownership.”
The automotive industry
contributes around 15% to
GDP. “It’s a very important
market and thanks to the
government’s Automotive
Production and Development
Programme it has the
potential to grow.
“With a significant number
of automotive manufacturers
based in the hinterland they
rely on rail to access their
markets and we have created
the capacity.”
Around 60% of automotive
exports move by rail,
according to Madinane.
TFR recently introduced a
shuttle for Toyota which runs
between Isipingo, where its
plant is based, and the port.
“We’re now extending that
shuttle to bring in imports –
and we’ll roll it out to other
manufacturers like GM and
Volkswagen in the Eastern
Cape.”
A risk assessment is
currently under way to
ensure that the line is
technically healthy for use.
INSERT & CAPTION
We are encouraging
OEMs to invest
in wagons — and
discussions are under
way.
– Wiseman Madinane