Zambia zaps SA truckers over new dangerous goods rules

A month after being informed that dangerous goods tankers entering Zambia must comply with the country’s specific standards or face massive fines, South African operators are yet to be told what the standards are. According to Gavin Kelly, spokesman for the Road Freight Association, they were informed by Zambian authorities of the two standards for dangerous goods tankers entering Zambia on September 10. “We were told that all fuel tankers, both foreign and local, moving on Zambian roads would be required to be fully compliant with two standards (ZS 371 and ZS 429-4) that would be enforced by the Zambian Bureau of Standards (ZABS) and that the new standards had already come into effect on September 1,” he told FTW. “But to date we have yet to see the Zambian Standards despite having asked for copies immediately.” He said it was extremely difficult to comply with standards if one did not know what the standards were. “This has a major impact on any operators entering Zambia as they can be fined huge amounts of money if they are found to not be contravening the standards, but we can’t seem to find out what they are.” He said last week an RFA member was fined $50 000 for not meeting the requirements. Authorities claimed the dangerous goods vehicle was still on the road after 6pm, which is why it was fined. But indications are that the driver was stopped just before 6pm and purposely prevented from travelling the extra kilometre to park safely and avoid the fine. “He was told to park on the side of the road and could not drive the short distance to the town. The requirements seem to be very unreasonable at times and hard to argue against as we don’t have copies of the standards.” Kelly said if the standards could be sourced it could very likely be that the Zambian standards are the same as South Africa. “Then it really is just a storm in a tea cup, but at the same time, the standards could be very different and indications at the moment are that this is the case. Already South African operators are being stopped in terms of the new regulations and told they do not comply, but how are they supposed to know what to comply with?” He said Zambian authorities had been present at a meeting in Pretoria in August organised by the Cross-Border Road Transport Agency and had made no mention of any new standards for dangerous goods tankers. “This seems to be just another money-making racket aimed at South African operators,” he said. “We have called on our local authorities to apply the same measures to Zambian truckers entering South Africa and that the Road Traffic Act be implemented against these vehicles to ensure they meet our regulations.” According to a spokesman for ZABS, the documentation on the standards can be sourced from the information centre in Lusaka and at all the border offices. “The measure has been put in place in the interests of protecting life, property and road infrastructure while guarding against environmental pollution in Zambia,” reads a statement by the organisation. “The measures have been necessitated by increased road traffic accidents, some of them involving fuel tankers, both local and foreign. As appreciated by all, these accidents do not discriminate on the basis of the origins of the fuel tanker.” INSERT ‘This seems to be just another moneymaking racket aimed at South African operators.’