TFR achieves predictability objective

Transnet Freight Rail

is making significant

strides in providing

customers with a reliable

and predictable transport

service, according to

executive manager:

intermodal business unit,

Wiseman Madinane.

Speaking exclusively

to FTW editor Joy Orlek,

he painted a picture

of a forward-thinking

organisation with one

overarching objective – to

decrease the unacceptably

high logistics costs for

South African shippers.

FTW: Have you achieved

the level of reliability

that shippers demand –

particularly on the Durban-

Gauteng (Natcor) corridor?

TFR: The Natal corridor

has stabilised immensely.

We have continued to shut

down for 10 days every year

in order to do maintenance

that we can’t do with trains

running. This has happened

every year around the same

time – July/August – and

we spend around R112m

during that 10-day period.

We will continue with this

maintenance – at least for

the next five years – or until

we feel we have done as

much as we can to stabilise

the corridor.

With the stable rail line

we’ve reduced transit times

for containers from vessel

discharge at the port to

available at City Deep from

just under 120 hours to

below 80 hours.

FTW: Are insufficient

resources still an issue?

TFR: We have managed

to stabilise our resources

even though

we haven’t

yet taken

delivery of

any of the new

locomotives

on the Natcor

– we’ve been

spending

money on

maintaining

our

locomotives.

We have

however

brought on

new wagons

to increase

our f leet and

create capacity.

We’ve also invested in

new generation telemeters

– equipment that alerts

the driver to problems like

braking or loss of a load. We

had a huge problem with the

failure of those units without

which no train can depart.

It’s a safety imperative.

FTW: What progress

has been made in port/rail

integration?

TFR: The Group has

rolled out a Transnet Value

Chain Coordination (TVCC)

programme to force the

integration of various

operating divisions. This

has helped to

ensure that

Transnet Port

Terminals

(TPT) and

TFR start

talking. We

previously

functioned

as separate

organisations

and this has

forced us to

start working

together.

Once a

train departs

Durban it will

be here 22

hours later. The problem is

to get it out of the ports into

the main line and also to get

it out of the train into the

terminal to make it available

to the customer. If you

take 22 hours out of 78 that

demonstrates how much time

is spent on either side of the

main line – and that’s what

we’re trying to shrink.

Port/rail coordination is

helping us to resolve issues

as Transnet and that helps

us to resolve them far more

quickly.

FTW: Have you achieved

the container volume growth

you were hoping for?

TFR: Container volumes

grew nicely until last year –

but that has a lot to do with

the economy. Imports have

dropped because of the weak

rand, and commodity prices

have discouraged exports.

The by-products of chrome

and manganese – known

as lumpies – can only be

transported in containers

and that’s going very well.

On domestic export

products we haven’t seen

growth in the past 18 months

purely because of the prices

of commodities and the rand/

dollar exchange rate.

FTW: Are you able to

maintain a scheduled service

timetable?

TFR: The whole of TFR

runs on an integrated train

plan which is a scheduled

railway model. It’s managed

by the national command

centre which monitors and

tracks every train on the

network. Each business

unit has its own satellite

operation centres which

monitor their own trains and

manage the deviations. On

the Natcor line the on-time

departure is now sitting

at 90%. On time arrival

is still struggling – we are

averaging 50% because of

the delays caused by crewing

or other failures. This will

be addressed as our assets

improve.

We also manage train

utilisation. If you’re only

using 40 wagons on a

50-wagon train you’re not

realising the full revenue. We

monitor that per train and

we also monitor the Train

Data Unit (TDU) which

manages the crew and the

asset itself.

On container trains

that’s gone from zero

utilisation to 80% and we’re

targeting 95%. Without that

information you don’t know

the utilisation of the train

– arrival, departure, stops

along the way etc. To enforce

this we won’t allow a train to

enter the main line unless it has

a TDU registered.

INSERT & CAPTION

We have managed

to stabilise our

resources even

though we haven’t

yet taken delivery

of any of the new

locomotives on the

Natcor.

– Wiseman Madinane