New scheme designed to
attract high value cargo
Joy Orlek
SPOORNET WILL, in future, make far more judicious use of its available wagons in a bid to improve efficiency and ensure better utilisation of the available fleet.
It's a move that's likely to find favour with customers who plan their movements well in advance, but may be seen as disruptive to those who have found Spoornet's wagons to be a cheap storage option. It is however aimed at ultimately improving service levels.
Spoornet, together with its customers, needs to invest in solutions that are effective and profitable to all. There is a great need for synergy between both
parties if a valuable service is to be delivered,
said Spoornet's executive
business manager, Harry Mashele, in reaction to recent media speculation that a severe shortage of wagons had landed the organisation in crisis, and was compromising customer service levels. Mashele believes that Spoornet has sufficient wagons to meet its obligations. But to make best use of the fleet we need to work smarter and be more productive in the application of our equipment/capacity.
We have moved away from a regulated to a competitive environment which requires that we render services on a more competitive basis.
Spoornet cannot be sustained by carrying coal alone, our cost to value ratio is already too high. We therefore need a more balanced cargo portfolio and believe that we can attract more high value cargo by entering into alliances with other service providers, including road.
We will complement our services and extend our reach to the likes of Europe and South East Asia through alliances with logistics providers across the world.
However, this requires
a re-assessment of the
way the rail organisation presently functions, particularly in relation to the ports. The current workings at some ports, where vessels dock on a first-come-first-served basis, is often the reason that wagons get tied up and are unable to load or offload timeously, says Mashele. Ideally trains should be planned in relation to the vessels' ETAs (Expected Time of Arrival). One can imagine the disruption caused if a wrong vessel is allowed to dock with no trains ready. There is a need for permits to be requested and issued ahead of time, and for the vessels to strive towards meeting the ETAs. This would avoid situations similar to one that arose recently where 900 wagons were assigned to a vessel that was delayed for seven days, which meant that amount of down-time for the Spoornet equipment.
We must work towards integrating our approach to logistics. The new system will reward customers who plan well in advance and reserve capacity for them, whether they are big or small.
Mashele is the first to admit that Spoornet is under-capitalised, a problem that the R15-billion investment over the next 15 years will address. In the meantime, the restructuring of its freight business is first priority. Spoornet intends to have consolidated its customer base by April next year. We want the customers' commitment to planning. By integrating our systems with theirs, we will ensure that we don't move trains unnecessarily. Perceptions also need to change, in Mashele's view. We believe we can attract high value cargo and will offer the customer a proposition that will ultimately offer us both a win/win solution.
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