“In logistics, we are dismantling bottlenecks in rail and ports that have throttled exports and raised the cost of doing business,” said Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana in his Budget Speech on Wednesday.
“Our intention is to bolster public-private investment in rail operations while retaining state ownership of rail infrastructure. The objective is to move goods faster, cheaper and more reliably.”
But is that feasible? asks Gavin Kelly, CEO of the Road Freight Association.
In a column sent to Freight News, he writes: “There are a number of hurdles with this approach – not the least as to whether moving freight by rail will be less expensive than by road (we know that in most cases, there will still be road freight legs before and after the rail links).
“In addition, with Transnet still owning the infrastructure and operating (trainsets) on the same rail routes: how will the private sector be guaranteed a fair chance when it becomes obvious that they are out-performing Transnet?”
- Read the full opinion piece in our ‘Columns’ section.
