Skills demand will shift from road to rail

South Africa, by all known global competitive measures, is in serious trouble in terms of labour production. This was one of the major findings of the CSIR and Imperial Logistics Fifth State of Logistics Survey launched in Johannesburg at the beginning of April. The survey found that many programmes addressing labour and training issues have been less than successful and much needs to be done to improve the current situation. Calling for more research to assess the situation, the survey found that scant information was available, making a needs assessment difficult. “In South Africa information management is basically non-existent. In America companies, by law, have to convey what amount of freight is travelling by road,” said Hans Ittman, executive director of the CSIR Built Environment. “In South Africa we continuously struggle to get data, so for all intents and purposes it is often estimates.” He said that skills development was often underestimated. “This industry is driven more and more by knowledge and technical innovation.” According to the survey the industry’s sector skills plan (based on skills shortages and training needs identified by the Transport Education and Training Authority) will have to be aligned closely with a number of national plans to support a skills demand shift from long-haul road to longhaul rail. According to Professor Jan Havenga from the University of Stellenbosch, there’s no doubting that a skills shift from road to rail will impact significantly on various categories, and that it is the future solution for South Africa’s freight transport problems. He said a return to rail would mean a highly technical skills development programme would have to be implemented in an area where the country had fallen behind.