TFR commits to beefing up communication

Transnet Freight Rail has committed to radically enhancing its track and trace feedback to customers increasingly frustrated by lack of credible information on the status of their containers. “From next week we are going to revisit the track and trace process to ensure that we are able to verify every train that leaves Durban – and that includes train number, wagon number and the like, and supply feedback on a three-hourly basis on where the cargo is along the route,” executive manager of TFR’s intermodal business unit, Wiseman Madinane, told guests at a Safmarine breakfast in Johannesburg recently. Customers at the function were vocal in their criticism of the current lack of information flow. “We experience immense frustration in getting the right information in a reasonable time and we need the information now,” said one. Madinane acknowledged that it was essential for TFR to beef up its communication. “You will see some progress from next week,” he said. “Whether it’s good or bad news, we need to let the customer know. “We have a lot of systems that enable us to check up to wagon level where it is between Durban and Johannesburg but we cannot drill down to container level without manual intervention. “We will try to find a stop-gap until we have the systems in place to get that information at container level,” he said. Several TFR customers complained that there was no proactive information flow. “We will get to a point very soon where if you have not been contacted about your container it will mean your container is not on rail. But we want to take it further – to give you the status of your container at any given time between Durban and City Deep.” In terms of TFR’s customer care procedure, queries must be acknowledged within four hours and responded to within a day. Madinane acknowledged that TFR was currently in ‘limited’ communication mode. “But we’ll get it right – our hearts are in the right place.”