Transporting goods to and through Gauteng is becoming increasingly challenging as the proportion of commercial freight tonnage transported by road in the province continues to increase.
According to Professor Rose Luke of the University of Johannesburg’s department of transport and supply chain management and a representative of the monthly Transport Forum, an informative platform that engages in matters relevant to the transport sector, the increasing thoroughfare of trucks puts an enormous strain on the road infrastructure and results in increased traffic congestion.
“In the long term, the current model is not sustainable and a modal switch from road to rail is a necessity. The system at the moment, however, does not encourage this move to rail.”
Not only is there not sufficient intermodal infrastructure but an inland port such as City Deep, for example, is no longer sufficient the province which has seen extensive development in the north and towards the East.Luke says the development of logistics hubs around the province would bring about some relief. “We have to move away from the traditional model towards a multimodal transportation network connecting the hinterland with the ports,” she told Freight News.
“Certain actions are required first and foremost of which is the management of demand. There must be a modal shift. Infrastructure spend is therefore unavoidable not only for the maintenance of the current structures but also the development of new infrastructure.”Rose said traffic management was another area that required action.
“The PW V 15 development has been on the cards for a few years and projects such as these must get off the ground. This road project will allow freight destined for Southern Africa to no longer move through Johannesburg but bypass the city. It is not cost effective or efficient to have trucks en route to and from our neighbouring countries sitting in Johannesburg traffic for hours on end.”Just as important, said Luke, was the need for good technology and data for information management and decision making.“The data exists, but I am not sure we are capitalising on it enough.”From a city point of view, Johannesburg continued to grow, meaning the volumes of freight were not going to decrease in the future. “It will soon be a megacity and we have to optimise our freight transport system to make it more efficient.”
According to Luke, for a province like Gauteng that not only has a geographic disadvantage, being far from its nearest seaport, but also freight imbalances, being globally competitive requires logistics ef f icienc y.“At the moment, while there are pockets of excellence, there is a struggle to meet the requirements of a modern logistics society. If one has delays in the system it impacts directly on inventory cost. At present, the model used relies on the road to reduce those delays. We have opted for more expensive transport to achieve f lexibility and reliability.”She emphasised the need for a logistics and freight model – sustainable and integrated – on a local municipal level that spoke directly to a provincial model that in turn fed into a national plan.
