Two major companies consider switching back to rail JOY ORLEK SPOORNET IS set to more than double frequency on the Johannesburg – Durban route, both north and southbound, from five to eleven trains a day within the next three to six months. That’s the word from general manager Ravi Nair who told FTW last week that the rail utility was currently in negotiations with two major companies who were keen to move all their cargo from road to rail. Spoornet currently runs five daily trains on the route in both directions. Until four months ago, capacity utilisation on the Jo’burg – Durban route was 40% while trains to Johannesburg were running at 60% full. By cutting down on transit time and ensuring that trains meet stack deadlines, Spoornet has pushed up utilisation dramatically. According to Nair current capacity utilisation to Durban has increased to 80%, while trains to Johannesburg are running 90% full. “In fact, for two weeks in a row, trains were 100% utilised,” said Nair. Next in line will be the redesign of the service to Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, he added. The central driver of these initiatives is the need to reduce the cost of doing business in South Africa from the current 14% of GDP to as near the global norm of 6% as possible. And that demands collaboration at every level of the supply chain. Speaking at the official launch of a collaborative project with Sasol Solvents and O&S, (see page 14), Spoornet CEO Siyabonga Gama made it clear that customer buy-in was crucial to improved efficiency. “We are running a ‘band-aid’ operation in many respects,” he said. “The last time a new locomotive was delivered was 1991. Most of our locomotive parts are obsolete and old locomotives have to be cannibalised for their parts. “The average age of our locomotives is 28 years. Compare this to the average age of a class one railway operator’s fleet, which is 12 years.” Because of the long lead times in ordering new equipment, the first new locomotive will be delivered in 2007. “That means we have to make do with what we have and introduce more collaborative projects and strategies to improve efficiency and ensure that we don’t remain the weakest link in the supply chain.” Spoornet is taking on the challenge in bite-sized chunks, said Gama. “We have to start with certain corridors and we are involved in several projects that are all part of the re-engineering process launched in July. “We are also looking at the coal supply chain, and for the first time in October we received a letter of thanks from the Richards Bay Coal Terminal after achieving the highest volumes ever in September.” And that too was part of a collaborative effort, he said. “There are a lot of market opportunities to move cargo from road to rail, and in the next 18 months we need to stabilise our systems and use them as a base for future growth.”
