The way forward for the Gauteng shipping industry has to be rail, says SACD Freight regional director Dennis Trotter. “It’s not only the most economical way to move cargo. There’s also a government drive to minimise heavy road vehicles.” But until Transnet Freight Rail can provide an efficient and predictable service, converting the industry mindset will continue to be a challenge. “TFR has overcommitted at City Deep into areas into which they have never ventured before,” says Trotter, “like storing empty containers which has taken a lot of capacity out of the terminal.” Empty boxes should be accommodated on a cheap piece of land rather than well-equipped prime property like City Deep, in his view. The rail utility has however acknowledged that it needs help to handle the huge volumes of cargo that have switched from rail to road in the past year, and SACD is keen to help. Its new rail siding – capable of accommodating a 50-wagon train – will be completed in October. “We have offered to take some of the slack, and will shortly enter into negotiations with TFR in this regard,” Trotter told FTW. “There would need to be some serious planning involved, but we believe it’s a workable solution.” And according to Trotter, TFR has been very amenable to the idea. SACD packs a lot of minerals for export. “In order to qualify for an extra heavy rail concession we needed to have a full block train – and that was our motivation for renovating the siding. “It’s still in the embryonic stages but we have had commercial discussions and there’s been very positive feedback from TFR as well as the industry whose main concern is that because of the current over-capacity at the rail terminal, containers are missing stacks and container bookings are not being taken.” At a recent industry forum, TFR did not hide the fact that it was having some problems and was open about wanting to find solutions in conjunction with the industry, said Trotter. Another issue facing Gauteng shippers that will need to be addressed, in his view, is the imbalance of 6m and 12m containers. “There’s been significant growth in the export of minerals – and one of challenges we face is a shortage of 6m containers. “Imports generally comprise finished products that are suited to 12m boxes, but exports are largely heavy raw materials best suited to 6m containers. “The whole world is going 12m – but the cost of shipping a 12m is much higher in terms of ancillary costs like terminal handling charges and cargo dues. The industry has to find solutions to the problem. “For us it’s exciting that exports have grown, but if we can’t resolve the costs of transport to the ports we risk losing business.” Trotter is however upbeat about prospects for the year ahead. “In January this year SACD took delivery of a 5 000m² extension to its warehouse. “We’ve seen significant growth in exports of minerals to the Far East and have also developed our road transport operation on the import and export side which is very positive growth for us. With 33 000m² of warehousing capacity, we believe we’re well placed to build on our already strong growth platform.”
