South Africa can do better in 2023. Improving the country’s logistics performance can only be achieved by close collaboration between all the parties – business, labour and government. We must always have the interests of South Africa in all our minds.We must unlock opportunities to improve our logistics network and facilitate trade better. Logistics can only function optimally in a shared infrastructure with shared responsibilities from all parties. Therefore, we must continue to revolutionise, increase collaboration, and build on the small wins; otherwise, we will continue to lose out to regional and international competitors.In 2022, we came to terms with the reality that our industry was struggling due to inefficiencies in the supply chain, natural disasters, adverse weather, backlogs, congestion, and the crippling 11-day strike in October.Considering the damage done to the country’s economy by the strike is critical. During this time, South Africa lost the opportunity of moving R65.3-billion worth of goods, whereas the wage increase cost would have been around R1.5bn.Nevertheless, we acknowledge the work being done this year to turn matters around. Although trade and accompanying industries are contributing admirably, the systemic issue at hand is creating a ceiling to growth. Apart from the transient supply chain challenges experienced, South African ports are beset with operational inefficiencies.We must learn the stark lessons these operational and natural disasters provide or we are going down an endless spiral with the worst possible outcome.It begs the question: how do we avoid cargo-crippling situations? Here’s how...•Back up port facilities to evacuate the ports.•We have a high freight demand, therefore, only a multimodal approach – with all parties operating efficiently – will have a chance of satisfying our demand.•We need a robust, functional rail sector, especially when moving goods from the country’s ports.•We need precise policy alignment to allow for the practical execution of moving goods.•We need port efficiency to improve in terms of the time, cost, and service reliability involved in moving goods. This approach must include inter- and intra-port competition, and a strong, independent ports regulator must oversee all functions. We must continue to work on correcting the plethora of constraining issues in our industry. These include rail failure, port inefficiency and logistics bottlenecks throughout the system. Ultimately, logistics can only function optimally in a shared infrastructure with shared responsibilities from all parties. Therefore, we need some system revolutions, including offering attractive third-party access for rail and adopting private-sector participation practices in our ports – thereby promoting intra- and inter-port competition – and enhancing the role of the ports regulator.Unfortunately, the legacy of systemic failure in the last decade is quickly catching up with us. Therefore, we need controlled reinvestment in the system and improving performance, competency and skills levels, or recovery into the next decade will be challenging. However, we can do better in 2023 by working together. Yes, we can!
