TFR targets inland to inland traffic

Transnet Freight Rail will be targeting inland to inland container traffic as it intensifies its drive for more general freight business. “We see a lot of opportunity in containerised cargo,” CEO Siyabonga Gama told FTW this week. “A lot of goods have been containerised and with bimodal technology we believe we can make inroads into this market.” The rail utility has until now focused largely on coast to inland traffic. “We have achieved a healthy market share in terms of coast to Johannesburg cargo,” he said. “But we’re now looking at inland to inland – we want to move cargo from Nelspruit to Johannesburg for example. We’d like shippers to call us instead of calling a truck. “If someone in Pietermaritzburg wants to bring something from Pretoria to Polokwane he needs to take a truck. “We believe that by building terminals at strategic points like Rustenburg and Polokwane we can claim a share of this inland traffic.” But TFR doesn’t have the money to build these terminals – and it’s therefore an opportunity for public private partnerships, says Gama. And these co-investors could be from the logistics industry or merely cashflush businessmen. It’s still at a conceptual stage, he said. “But since Transnet is the second biggest landowner after government, if we use some of our land resources to build inland terminals where Transnet contributes the land and someone from the private sector builds and operates the terminal – making sure of course that it has a rail track – this is the kind of partnership that Transnet could consider. “This would create opportunities for container hubs where private operators would provide warehouses and similar facilities,” he added. Having a hub in Polokwane, for example, would enable the rail utility to do all Zimbabwe containers via Polokwane, which is regarded by many as the gateway province to the likes of Mozambique and Botswana. “If anyone has an idea that can work, we will look at it together and judge it on a case-by-case basis,” he said. But while prospective investors often come forward on a variety of projects, Gama says that experience has shown some reticence on their part when it comes to dipping into their own resources.