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Editor ’ s column |
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Products |
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Buyer ’ s guide |
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OTTC ’ s final graduation of 2023 :“ Well done guys – it wasn ’ t easy !” |
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Panel World expands its premises to accommodate continued |
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Refrigeration Practitioner registration – 04 |
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Situation with ammonia installations in Cape Town Harbour and |
Waterfront | |
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Unpacking SA ’ s draft strategy to combat food losses and waste |
Transnet has replaced Eskom as the major threat to South Africa ’ s already stuttering economic growth , and particularly its export-orientated cold chain . The economic impact of Transnet ’ s logistical challenges at the Port of Richards Bay , Port of Durban and – to a lesser extent – Port of Cape Town , is expected to have been significant leading up to January . The backlog of 18 – 20 days to offload cargo vessels in Durban is causing a delay in the delivery of goods , which could lead to a shortage of essential commodities . The situation in Richards Bay is even more dire , with Transnet having back in November last year threatened to suspend the processing of trucks bringing cargo into its terminals via road because of the 37km traffic jam the trucks had caused as a result of rail inefficiencies . This had in turn resulted in some logistics companies transporting exports trying to bypass the problem by transporting by road to Mozambique for exports , but this in turn had resulted in skirmishes between trucking and the taxi industry at the Lebombo Border Post . Even before the current logistics crisis , a study by GAIN group calculated the economic cost of rail inefficiencies at 5 % of GDP in 2023 . The current situation is expected to exacerbate this cost , leading to a further decline in the country ’ s economy . This problem was highlighted in November last year with predictions the problem would only start to alleviate by this month . The delay in the delivery of goods could lead to a shortage of essential commodities , which could cause inflation and a rise in prices . The
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suspension of the processing of trucks in Richards Bay could lead to a loss of revenue for logistics companies and a decline in the country ’ s exports .
The delays – whether at Durban ’ s terminals , Richards Bay ’ s or Cape Town ’ s – are all attributed to bad weather . The reality is that Transnet is perpetually in such a state of chaos that something as predictable as bad weather throws out all planning . Cape Town had seen the planned arrival of new shore tensioning units delayed to the second week of December .
While congestion has eased , the SAAFF ( South African Association of Freight Forwarders ) noted that this was less due to any improvements in performance or productivity , than to a drop in cargo volume and the bypassing of Cape Town , which is clearly visible in the rising Ngqura statistics , while some exporters were resorting to the short-term solution of airfreight and the use of Port Louis ( Mauritius ) as a hub port . However , SME cargo owners were suffering most from the delays , and airfreight was not a viable option for many .
A significant issue has been the state of affairs in Transnet . The main contributor is the lack of useable equipment , as Transnet has not kept up with maintenance – especially half-life maintenance of key equipment .
Fortunately , a long-term OEM strategy aims to address equipment challenges by awarding contracts for major equipment . For export businesses , this all has been a huge frustration . Their businesses are suffering , with potential knock-on effects
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on company profit , security of jobs and falling tax revenue . There ’ s huge drain on resources in terms of keeping the wheels turning , the assets , the trucks , and drivers waiting around interminably .
If we don ’ t export , we don ’ t generate revenue and we don ’ t generate tax – and tax means we can do the things that we need to do . Around the world , importers are looking at this scenario and saying , if I cannot get my goods out of South Africa through ports , I ’ m going to buy my fruit and horticultural products from somewhere else . A huge amount of core commodities are now being transported to ports by truck . Richards Bay in particular was not built to take these commodities by truck , but by rail . The whole infrastructure in that port process of loading or offloading or getting onto ships needs to have an interface between the trucks and this loading system .
The roads around the port and the access points into the port just cannot deal with these thousands of vehicles that are trying to get in and out . These are the choke points : long queues outside of the port trying to get through a narrow entrance , and it ’ s narrow because it wasn ’ t built to take continuous loads of trucks . Then within the port you ’ ve got a small , congested area because no one thought that this number of trucks would come into the port to offload .
The long-term solution is to sort out the rail to make sure it can get into port and remove the secondary knock-ons at places like Lebombo , where these huge queues are now appearing . We are in for a long haul . There are key operations that Transnet
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needs to give , or concession , to the private sector . There has been talk of a terminal at the port of Durban , that was going to private sector , and nothing has happened in months . This situation didn ’ t happen overnight – it has been warned of over a long period of time .
The National Logistics Crisis Committee ( NLCC ) has been established a couple of months ago , with various sub-parts that address different aspects of logistics with the intention of fixing problems . At the moment we don ’ t seem to be getting anywhere quickly . CLA
Eamonn
REFERENCE
1 . https :// www . gaingroup . co . za / index . php / content / press
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