‘Rail the only way to reduce logistics costs’

The only way to reduce South
Africa’s logistics costs is to
move more cargo to rail –
and not just heavy haul cargo
over long distance, but also
fast moving consumer goods,
according to Professor
Jan Havenga, a leading
researcher in the field of
macro-logistics from the
University of Stellenbosch.
“We have done all the
calculations and there is
no getting past it. Rail
is cheaper,” he said. “The
volume of long-haul fast
moving consumer goods on
rail has to increase. I am not
saying this because I like
the railways, but because
that is what a good railway
system in a country should
be doing.”
He said even more so in
a country such as South
Africa where the ports were
hundreds of kilometres from
the economic hubs.
“Rail is simply too
expensive in South Africa.
The service is not the problem,
the rate is too high,” he said.
“They need to work harder to
understand the tariff system
better and they need to
develop a good decent rate.”
He said ideally road and rail
should each have around 50%
market share.
“At present the rail market
share is about 36% – but if
you take out the bulk systems
then it’s only 15%. That must
increase significantly.”
He said if volumes
continued to grow, road would
simply not be able to handle
the volume of freight it would
have to move – with a fleet
of more than 11 000 vehicles
required to make around
6500 trips per day between
the Port of Durban and
Gauteng in the next couple of
years.