Rail Road Africa offers security solution THE CONTROL of documentation from Portnet to agents and freight companies is a worrying factor, according to haulage specialist Roland Naidoo of Rail Road Africa.
Portnet needs to improve its handling of documentation in respect of long-distance traffic, he told FTW. Careless spotting of documents into incorrect boxes remains a problem.
When we have documents that have to pass through A, B and C sections, Portnet (at the Durban terminal) tells us to Ôleave it with us and we'll pass them through the system'.
What happens is that these documents end up in the wrong hands. Naidoo would prefer a system where his staff retains possession of the documents, taking them from section to section as required.
Portnet should reduce the number of sections and hands these documents travel through. Naidoo claims that his company has often been handed documents belonging to other companies, and says the same can occur with Rail Road Africa's paperwork. He sees this as the area of greatest weakness in the existing system, leading to documents falling into the wrong hands.
Even rejected documents seem to be a problem. These are also placed in boxes awaiting collection by the company concerned, and sometimes end up in the wrong box. In Durban, where most of the big operators have offices in the same building as Portnet, Naidoo feels that these should be personally delivered to the agents and signed for. Procedures should be developed by Portnet with the agents on site. During FTW's interview with Naidoo, a recent incident came to light concerning a container that had left the terminal on a Saturday and was unpacked somewhere by someone unknown. When Rail Road Africa went looking for it, it was found in the terminal's export stack, empty of its original contents and repacked with other goods for export. Whoever was responsible for this was quick, said Naidoo. Monday was a holiday so the theft and repacking was accomplished over the weekend. Rail Road is keen to see the introduction of regular monthly meetings of all role players in the freight industry. This would bring together Portnet, SAPS, insurers, the agent on behalf of the client, and the freight operator, and establish a flow of information.
Instead, says Naidoo, there is no comparing of notes and everyone gets defensive and looks for someone else to blame.
Problems of this nature only occur with long-haul roadfreight operations, he says. We've never had a case of a container being sent by rail disappearing. The rail system doesn't allow for it. Rail Road Africa's local road freight is handled from its newly opened trailer parks in Cape Town, Durban, City Deep and Pretoria. The system of using carefully screened owner drivers has offered scope for small one-man operators to enter the industry and has proved successful in providing a better, quicker and safer service.
With owner drivers what incentive is there to Ôlose' a container? It would be the last job he would get, says Naidoo.
By Terry Hutson
