Transnet Freight Rail has committed to building further industry collaboration opportunities, investing in modern equipment and extending and upgrading its rail network to up its operational efficiency. That was the message from assistant to the chief executive, Molatwane Likhete, who told delegates at last week’s Transport Special Interest Group monthly Transport Forum in Johannesburg that TFR had recognised that to achieve and sustain its goals, collaboration was the way to go and the rail utility was increasingly embracing partnerships. Responding to concerns raised about the its perceived monopoly, Likhete said: “We see rail as a key enabler linking South Africa to its regional markets and therefore the road to rail migration initiative is a cornerstone of Transnet’s Market Demand Strategy (MDS). We are keenly aware that we cannot achieve this without the assistance and buy-in of our logistics industry partners.” He told FTW that freight volumes transported by rail during the first quarter of 2014 had grown by 4% while road freight volumes had seen 0.4% growth. “This shows us that we are moving in the right direction.
