Power crisis translates into road freight opportunities

South Africa's energy crisis has presented both challenges and opportunities to the road freight industry, Thandeka Mgoduso said in her chairman’s report presented at the Road Freight Association annual general meeting recently. Eskom’s announcement that it intends to procure an additional 45-million tonnes of emergency coal over the next two years to increase stockpiles at its power stations to at least 20 days translates into huge opportunities, said Mgoduso. “This is over and above its normal running requirements of 125-m tonnes a year. "Eskom has estimated that about 900 additional trucks will be necessary to transport the coal, and that substantial road repairs will be necessary to facilitate this, particularly in Mpumalanga.” This promise is a small contribution to one of the RFA’s concerns in the past year. “We remain in dire need of a far wider network and a better-maintained road infrastructure,” said Mgoduso. “Of the 16 000-kilometres of roads that fall under the custodianship of Sanral, some 2 400-kms are tolled. “The focus of Sanral over the next decade includes road preservation through periodic maintenance, strengthening of roads with five years of life (or less) and road capacity expansion.”