TFR extends rail contract customer base

‘Rail service inconsistency hurting SA’. That was the FTW headline that galvanised TFR sales and marketing executive Bheka Xaba into action. The assertion by United Maritime Logistics director Claude Nuttall that the current slow movement and the inconsistency of the rail service – particularly on the Durban-Jo’burg corridor – had forced consolidators into transporting containers via the costly road option touched a nerve for TFR’s passionate and driven marketing man. With FTW acting as facilitator, a meeting was set up between TFR and UML – and the outcome laid the foundation for a constructive way forward. “For us, first prize is the rail option,” UML’s Johannesburg-based director Corinne French told Xaba. “But because rail is unreliable, and because of customer pressure to deliver to their Just In Time requirements, we’re forced to use road transport and absorb the additional costs.” Clearly the will is there, but the service isn’t – in French’s view. One of UML’s containers was recently delayed for 10 days in Durban, French told Xaba. “We don’t find delays once it’s on the train – but it’s before it gets on rail where the problems lie.” Clearly the integration between port and rail is a major sticking point, which Xaba says is being addressed. “We have started offering customers integrated service levels that involve the port. We even have a joint planning set-up, with rail planners sitting in the same office as the port planners. “If there’s a delay in the vessel we can factor that in. If there are delays with trains, we pass the information onto ports. This collaboration has assisted us enormously.” As soon as a container is loaded on rail and released to TFR, it moves, says Xaba. “The first boxes offloaded in Durban arrive in City Deep in 24 hours. And once the vessel is offloaded, the last box is available in 60 hours.” Problems generally arise with customers who don’t have a direct relationship with TFR and work through middlemen, he added. “In the past we dealt exclusively with intermodal companies and shipping lines but have recently expanded our client base to offer logistics companies the option of dealing directly with us and setting up a direct account. “For direct customers TFR communicates on a regular basis – moving containers based on a priority list and providing daily reports on the status of their boxes.” MSC and Maersk are two of the biggest TFR customers, says Xaba. “We engage them on a regular basis and have commitments in terms of the time the box leaves the vessel. We measure the last box up till it’s available in City Deep for collection – with Maersk there was a 60-hour commitment which is currently under negotiation,” he said. The results of TFR’s customer-focused efforts, says Xaba, have been exceptionally positive. “We’ve improved our market share from 17% in 2007 to 34% at the end of the last financial year.” And while the rail utility remains significantly underresourced because of the time lines between ordering equipment and delivery, by working smarter it has made significant strides. By running its longer Anaconda trains – 75 wagons instead of 50 – it has increased capacity with existing limited resources. “And we are on track in terms of our renewal programme. We have started receiving some of the diesels and believe that with the resources we have we are in a position to offer customers a reasonable if not superior service.” Xaba’s mission is to change outdated perceptions and to demonstrate TFR’s ‘can do’ approach. UML was clearly impressed – but the proof of the pudding will be in the eating …