‘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.”