The SA Association of Freight Forwarders (Saaff) has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to set up a multimodal transport regulatory body to prevent a private monopoly from controlling Transnet Freight Rail’s (TFR) Durban/Johannesburg line.
Saaff made the call ahead of Ramaphosa’s Sona speech on Thursday, saying that in his address last year he had promised that Transnet would “start the process of providing third-party access to its freight rail network from April 2022 by making slots available on the container corridor between Durban and City Deep in Gauteng”.
He had also noted that the parastatal had developed partnerships with the private sector to address cable theft and vandalism “through advanced technologies and additional security personnel” which had reduced disruptions to rail operations.
However, Saaff said the private sector had not yet seen any reform to provide third-party access to private operators across the national rail network and crime had increased on the network.
“Unfortunately, the opposite has been true. Although the deterioration of rail freight has been a reality for some time now, the astonishing acceleration of disruptive occurrences due to crime and malfunctioning equipment and stripped infrastructure in recent months has been nothing short of a disaster,” Saaff said.
A recent edition of the weekly Cargo Movement Update by Business Unity SA/Saaff reported on the status quo, noting that TFR’s handling volumes had reduced by as much as 80% since 2010.
“This operational deficiency, along with the utter destruction of infrastructure and criminality - 143 incidents a month - has crippled a core artery in our trading network,” Saaff said.
It added that the request for quotations issued by TFR to the market last week had provided a “glimmer of hope” that rail could return to handling volumes of a bygone era when it was productive, offering a reliable service.
“Saaff, on behalf of the logistics sector and in unison with private sector bodies, has continually called for decisive, drastic corrective action. The country needs a strong, competent, and independent regulator working across a multimodal model. Failing to position an independent regulator runs a high-probability risk of the cargo rail system going from a public monopoly to a private monopoly, a position of exposure that Saaff strongly opposes.” The organisation said it was up to the public and private sectors to collectively deliver an urgent solution to avoid the creation of a “monster with massive unintended consequences”.
“We cannot emphasise enough the need for a functioning rail system. It is critical to understand the cost if we fail to cement reform with a sustainable, well-planned and properly implemented strategy,” Saaff said.
“South Africa’s freight demand is exceedingly high, which requires a multimodal approach. In addition, the increasing rate of damage to road networks can be directly attributed to the lamentable performance of the rail system. We need strong leadership and a change in direction in our SOEs, notably Transnet.”
