The South African Association of Freight Forwarders (Saaff) has welcomed the decision by Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau to Gazette the “block exemption for ports, rail and key feeder road corridors”.
Saaff CEO Juanita Maree described the May 8 announcement as “excellent news.”
According to the Government Notice, the decision serves to promote collaboration to “reduce costs, improve services and minimise losses caused by operational inefficiencies and infrastructural capacity shortages” in the country’s existing multimodal logistics network.
The Gazette added that the “block exemption” also served to “prevent, mitigate and resolve bottlenecks and additional breakdowns in port and rail infrastructure; contribute to measures aimed at resolving the challenges in the South African ports rail, and key feeder corridors industry; and ensure security of supply of goods transported through South Africa’s ports, rail and key feeder road corridors systems”.
Maree said it was a good opportunity to form a Container User Group Forum.
She added that it would assist Saaff and the wider supply chain and logistics industry to establish South Africa as a regional hub for cargo movement in sub-Saharan Africa, help with improved port productivity, and “unlock the rightful investment in port equipment, landside strategy and security on rail networks”.
