Shift from rail to road worrying – MSC

MEDITERRANEAN Shipping Company (MSC) East London branch manager Barbara Taylor remembers when rail was the preferred means to transport goods between the city and Port Elizabeth. That ended when the then Spoornet increased the rates overnight and forced the industry to shift to road. That traffic has now grown to some 400 heavy trucks a day travelling along the R72 between the two Eastern Cape cities. This has led to rapid deterioration of the road and even newly refurbished sections are showing signs of wear. With plans for the upgrading of the port of East London on hold, Taylor believes it is important that Transnet makes it a priority to provide a cost-effective service between the ports of Port Elizabeth and Ngqura to East London in order to support growth in the Buffalo City metro. “Meanwhile, we continue to use the truckers, where we can have containers discharged off the ship in Port Elizabeth at two in the morning and trucked to East London, to be with the client by eight that same morning. We thrive on providing the highest level of service possible,” she says.