‘TFR should equalise rates on all corridors’

Transnet Freight
Rail (TFR) should be
investigating the possibility
of equalising rates on all its
rail corridors irrespective
of the distances covered.
This was the call at the
recent Transport Forum
in Stellenbosch from
freight forwarders and
logistics providers who
said by equalising rates the
parastatal would attract
huge amounts of cargo on
its corridors and increased
volumes would more than
compensate for the rate
reduction.
Lawrie Bateman,
managing director of MSC
Logistics, told FTW they
had been moving cargo for
a major automotive client
on the railway network
since 1995.
“We signed the
agreement in December
1995 with TFR that
guaranteed our transit
time between Cape Town
and Rosslyn near Pretoria
for a major client in the
automotive sector. The
contract continues to this
day,” he said. “One must
point out though that the
guaranteed transit time
was 54 hours for the first
train with the second train
following twelve hours
later and the third train
another twelve hours later.
The difference today is that
the transit time is now 60
hours.”
He said initially it took a
lot of persuasion to get the
client to use rail, but after
several trial runs they had
bought into the rail option.
“Our first trial was
an absolute disaster as
the train was left with
no driver when the relief
driver did not take over
because he was feeling
ill,” he said. “Since then it
has been a very successful
contract with the three
trains going to Pretoria on
a weekly basis, allowing us
to ring-fence the wagons
and start exporting along
the Cape Corridor route.”
He said when they
could not fill the empty
containers they just
repositioned them.
Bateman agreed that
if TFR adjusted and
equalised its rates it would
draw much more cargo
and increase its volumes
drastically.
“And the private sector is
committed to working with
Transnet,” he said. “Also
the restructuring going
on at the Port of Durban
is going to see congestion
increase drastically,
making the Cape Corridor
a very attractive option for
exporters and importers.”