TFR and customers debate service delivery issues

THE DISCONNECT between
the service delivery
perceptions of Transnet
Freight Rail on one hand and
its customers on the other
was a subject of lively debate
at last week’s inaugural SA
Shippers’ Council conference
in Johannesburg.
SA Association of Freight
Forwarders’ executive
member Chris Richards
drew attention to the
issue of turnaround times.
“The market has a problem
with the time taken from
collection of the container
to availability – in other
words it’s taking too long
from collection at Durban
Container Terminal to
availability at City Deep,”
he said.
While TFR CEO Siyabonga
Gama acknowledged
that there was room for
improvement, he said the rail
utility was making immense
progress on this score. “In the
past it could take up to 196
hours – we have reduced
that by 51% to around 96
hours and want to reduce it
further to 56 hours.
“We have a lot of work
to do at the shunting yards
in Durban and Johannesburg
and are also paying closer
attention in terms of how to
bring containers and trains
into the stack. Our target
is to do the whole cycle –
Durban to City Deep and
back – in 96 hours,” he said.
The question of service
failure was raised by SACD
Freight’s Dennis Trotter.
And here Gama conceded
that this had been a
particular problem over the
past 10 days.
“We have been heavily hit
by cable theft.
“It’s very difficult for us
to control because we are
dealing with syndicates.
“Sometimes we make
progress and arrests are
made but we have to
continue to be vigilant. We
are buying helicopters to
police the railway to prevent
service disruptions and are
looking at introducing more
diesel locomotives.
“Unfortunately in the
current economic climate a
lot of people are making a
lot of money out of
cable theft.”