Price discount considered to entice citrus to rail

One year into the Tonnage Off Tar (ToT) initiative, which seeks to shift transport of citrus from road to rail, grower response has been erratic but developments like a possible price discount for citrus shippers are brightening the programme’s prospects. “Volumes are relatively low but already five routes are being used to transport citrus to the ports,” Justin Chadwick, CEO of the Citrus Growers’ Association (CGA), told FTW. The routes are from Tzaneen to Durban (bearing the largest volume), and breakbulk from Letsitele to Durban, Letsitele to Maputo, Sundays River to PE and Hoedspruit to Maputo. Chadwick said new routes were in the planning phase. Over 12 000 pallets (840 000 cartons) of this year’s citrus crop were transported by rail by the first week of July. The initiative emphasises the environmental benefit of transporting bulk products like citrus by rail. To transport the same volume of citrus by road would have required 430 reefer trucks. Rail transport reportedly emits two-thirds of the greenhouse gases emitted by trucks. For more growers to get on board a discount would be helpful and talks are under way to make this happen. “Transnet Freight Rail requires commitment from the growers. They have given us a dedicated train from Tzaneen to Durban. They give the trains priority treatment because they carry perishables. It’s 38 carriages. Some weeks 30 carriages are filled, or 32, but one week it was down to 19. TFR needs to know what volumes to expect from a business standpoint,” said Chadwick. One firm, Progressive Logistics, has invested in box lifters and other infrastructure and was responsible for arranging from TFR a dedicated citrus train from Tzaneen to Cape Town. CGA is working with the firm as the only logistics company specialising in citrus rail transport, but for purposes of competition would like to see other agents involved in the work. “There are huge opportunities to move more citrus volumes onto rail. We’ve just scratched the surface,” said Chadwick.