Truck ban on SA's roads coming (not OT!)

[John Ashworth]

Truck ban on SA's roads coming

Roy Cokayne
iol.co.za
October 20 2009 at 03:10PM

A ban on certain trucks from the country's roads is coming.

A new government freight strategy plans to prohibit certain commodities from roads to revitalise the rail branch lines and reduce damage to the roads infrastructure.

Sharmini Naidoo, chief executive of the Road Freight Association (RFA), said this legislation, if implemented, could have a serious impact on the road freight industry.

She said: "It will affect operators, suppliers, manufacturers, as well as customers.

Possible effects include higher pricing (for end-users), lower gross vehicle mass and reduced payloads, doubling the logistics costs, more vehicles on our roads and changed vehicle specifications."

Frank Beeton, a consultant at Econometrix, said the intention of the planned reduction in axle limits on secondary roads was to bring rail back into contention as a mode of transport, but had the potential to do severe damage to the economy and create confusion and grey areas if the government prescribed what goods could travel on roads.

Notice of the planned prohibition, plus a reduction in axle load limits on secondary roads from 9 000kg to 8 000kg, was contained in a letter sent to transport stakeholders - including the RFA - by the Transport Department's Acting Chief Director for road traffic regulations, John Motsatsing.

In the letter, Motsatsing indicated the intention of the prohibition was to save "adjacent or surrounding road networks through the revitalisation of those (rail) branch lines".

It did not specify what commodities would be prohibited.

Attempts to obtain further comment from the department were unsuccessful.

Beeton said it was impossible at this stage to quantify the potential damage to the economy because it would depend on how strategic the commodities were and the volumes that were moved to rail.

But he said the volumes moved to rail would have to be fairly substantial "or else there is no point".

Naidoo said the proposal to reduce the maximum rear axle mass load from 9 000kg to 8 000kg flowed from the urgent need by Treasury to look into the deteriorating network, because no funds were available to continually sustain or repair the road network, which had "a five-year life span left before collapse".

Naidoo said the secondary network referred to all public roads not proclaimed as national roads. Transport stakeholders had until November 6 to comment on the strategy.

o This article was originally published on page 6 of Daily News on October 20, 2009

[Kevin Wilson-Smith]

If this goes ahead it will be a major blow to the economy.

Containers come by road for 2 very good reasons -
1. Speed
2. Pilferage and damage.
The latter is critical - periodically we have containers dispatched by rail in error, and without fail they are pilfered and the remaining contents smashed - presumably in fustration. Containers arrive with their top edge peeled back (like a sardine tin). Business impact is horrendous - another 6 weeks delay if goods are shipped, or 10 days (plus the cost) if airfreighted.

Perhaps the fact is being overlooked that IF the security and reliability of rail movement could be improved, business would move back? The industry is not adverse to rail - only the problems it currrently brings.

The other question that this move does not consider is - imports aside - national distribution. What happens to distribution fleets and company distribution networks? The "hub' priniciple (speedy and cost effective) means goods are rebulked for redistribution...... The railways will now do this ?

The reduction is axle loading is incidentally a good thing - it is one of the highest in the world, is unecessary and will help road maintenance.