Swazi Rail invests in oil tank wagons

MBABANE – Swaziland
Railway is working to make
the country more energy
secure through an aggressive
programme to purchase oil
tank wagons.
“We plan to acquire 50
additional tank cars by
March 31, 2017 to make
meaningful inroads into
the importation of fuel for
the country. We currently
have a fleet of 48 tank cars
– including 20 bought from
China in 2008. Twenty-five
tankers are planned to be
delivered by March 31 this
year and another batch of 25
by the end of March 2017,”
Vusi Makhubu, chief finance
officer for Swaziland Railway
told FTW.
“The shortage of rail tank
wagons not only reduces rail
capacity to move this vital
cargo but also our market
share compared to road,” said
Makhubu.
Swaziland imports all its
petroleum products from
refineries in Durban, about
290 million litres per annum.
“In the 1970s we got the
rail connection to the south,
and that’s when we started
hauling fuel from Durban.
Before that fuel was sourced
from Maputo both by rail
and by road. Our rail market
share then was above 75%. So
as part of our strategic intent
to increase our market share,
we are investing in rail tank
wagons. What we see on the
ground is that sometimes we
do not get all our fuel orders
from Durban because of the
shortage of tank wagons in
the region. We are competing
with bigger orders from
Gauteng and other parts
of South Africa, including
neighbouring countries like
Botswana for this limited
resource, tank wagons,”
Makhubu said.