Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) has acknowledged that it needs to up its game when it comes to moving more general cargo on rail.
Speaking at the annual Sapics conference in Cape Town last week, Mike Fanucchi, chief customer officer for Transnet, said several initiatives were under way to change the approach to customers.
He said the organisation understood the frustration of customers dealing with different divisions. “You talk to one person, then the next person and there is not a single view of the customer. We are trying to change this.”
Fanucchi said a new system of key account relationships was being implemented, bringing one Transnet to the customer. “The Transnet National Ports Authority relationship, the Transnet Port Terminals relationship, the rail and the engineering all into one. It is a different tempo to try and change the attitude that we have.”
He said this was an important step for the organisation, adding that partnering with 3PLs was really key to its model. “We have seen some good volumes in Cape Town on containers and on the Natcor line there are some projects kicking off.”
In terms of the modal shift from road to rail, he said a lot had been achieved. “In the last year 147 000 trips came off the road on different commodities. That was a total of 176 million kms. We did an extra million tons of chrome that had previously been on tipper trucks and took about 15 000 tons of magnetite off the road.”
He said in 2019 the objective was to convert at least 300 000 trips from road to rail. “We are seeing real momentum build up with grain and are getting closer to a million tons of grain on the branch lines after a slow start,” said Fanucchi.
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In 2019 the objective is to convert at least 300 000 trips from road to rail. – Mike Fanucchi
