Stats reveal that rail is making inroads

Road still wins on high value, low mass cargo, writes Alan Peat IN THE five years leading up to and including 2000, SA railways have carried a quarter of the annual tonnage hauled by the private road sector. In that period, rail carried 556.2-million tons of cargo, while the private road hauliers logged a total of just under 2.2-billion. These figures are based on statistics from Statistics SA in their release entitled: ÒTonnages carried by road and rail for rewardÓ - and record the tonnages carried by Transnet (rail included), and the private sector. They are further refined using an arithmetic formula devised by Rand Afrikaans University's transport economics faculty, to calculate the rail portion of the total tonnage carried. The final figures would seem to indicate that the continuing statements about road snatching cargo from rail have to be examined. The market share figures have remained virtually static for a decade and a half - with comparative figures from 1986 showing rail carried just over 27% of what went by road. There have only been minor changes in this figure on the route from then to now. But, say road carriers, the basic tonnages are not the measure. As this country's bulk exports continue to grow, rail is garnering extra high tonnage business - thatÕs for sure. But this sort of high-mass, low-value cargo is always more cost-efficiently carried by rail. The business that road transport has been gleaning from rail has been the high-value, low-mass cargo.