South African land transport – where to next?
South African land transport – where to next?
The disruption of the N3 transport corridor during the days of the riots and looting in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, and the impact on the broader economy has brought into sharp focus the critical importance of a functioning land transport system in South Africa. So says CILTSA president ELVIN HARRIS.
The effective closure of this corridor, from the port of Durban all the way to the Gauteng hinterland, just for a few days, has disrupted supply chains not only in South Africa, but also across the southern Africa region.
Some early estimates made by the South African Property Owners Association of the cost of the rioting and looting already stand at R50-billion. This is unlikely to be the final cost and also excludes any costs to economies in the region. Of course, the costs directly carried by the transport, logistics and supply chain industries are a smaller component of the total costs, but it once again underscores the vital importance of efficient and effective supply chains to an economy – and clearly demonstrates the disastrous results when a supply chain is NOT functioning efficiently – or not at all – even just for a few days.
We can be thankful that the recent disruption in the supply chain is an extreme set of events that happens very rarely in South Africa and is hopefully unlikely to happen again anytime soon. But we should also use this month to reflect more deeply into the systemic issues in our freight logistics system that has stubbornly prevented the system issues in our freight logistics system from consistently attaining high levels of efficiency, reliability and predictability over time. Three such systemic changes that need to be implemented, amongst others are:
1.) A fully integrated freight logistics system that optimises intermodal operations between road and rail transport.
2.) High levels of funding of the systems between public and private sectors.
3.) Professionalisation of both public and private sector transport, logistics and supply chain management practitioners within the industry, as well as across industries.
The issues have surfaced time and time again as South Africa’s economy has developed since the early 1990s. More recent attempts at examining these issues and attempting to find policy solutions to these problems include the study commonly referred to as the De Villers Report on the South African Transport Services (1986), The White Paper on Transport Policy (1996), Moving South Africa (1998), the National Freight Logistics Strategy (2005), Road Freight Strategy (2017), the Draft White paper on the National Rail Policy (2019) and the Revised Transport White Paper (2020).
On the issue of funding of the freight logistic system, strong signals have been sent by the government for greater participation by the private sector in both infrastructure development and operations. Attractive terms and conditions will no doubt entice the private sector to get on board.
On the issues of an integrated freight transport system that optimises intermodalism as well as the professionalisation of practitioners, perhaps it is time for a national conversation among role players from government, state-owned entities (SOEs) and the private sector to collectively chart a roadmap to achieving these vital objectives within the next decade, particularly concerning efficient intermodalism between road and rail transport. With respect to the professionalisation of transport, logistics and supply chain management practitioners, this journey has already started in recent years in the form of discussions through the Interim Supply Chain Council and a drive by National Treasury to enhance public sector supply chain management capabilities.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution and the Covid-19 pandemic have brought a new urgency to the task of logistics as practitioners and entrepreneurs. As the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport in South Africa (CILTSA), we are particularly excited about a new programme with our partners the Commercial Transport Academy for the training and development of nearly 400 women. The programme involves hands-on mentoring and coaching.
Einstein said: “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” We need to seize this moment of difficulty to build a better freight transport system supported by well-trained and qualified practitioners with new skills and competencies to manage supply chains for the future.
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