That's just for the next five years – and it also needs more rolling stock and security teams to tackle vandalism and theft.
Transnet needs R122 billion over the next five years to turn around its waning fortunes, according to a Freight Logistics Roadmap issued in October by the Department of Transport. Of this, 19% will need to be spent on expansion and the rest on sustaining existing operations.
The devil is in the detail. For example, the roadmap envisages creating infrastructure managers for rail, operating independent of Transnet and responsible for maintenance, renewal and development of the network. The IMs will have independence in train path allocation, as well as freedom to set fees for use of the infrastructure.
In most countries, port authorities are owned either by the host city or the national tax authority. Tax authorities have a vested interest in seeing increased taxes and excise duties and are less concerned about ownership. In SA, government has decided to vest ownership in the Port Authority within Transnet, and not as an independent entity. It’s not hard to understand why: government needs the safety of TNPA’s balance sheet to stave off a financial crisis.
In July it was announced that Philippines-based International Container Terminal Services had been chosen as the preferred bidder for a 25-year concession to run the Durban Container Terminal, which handles about half of SA’s total port traffic. Already, there are reports of a labour go-slow at the port which has prolonged the ship offloading times to more than 20 days. This will not have gone unnoticed by ICTSI as it considers its options.
The general freight volumes, meaning the non-mining volumes, have dropped to a level last seen after the Second World War when the railway relied on steam locomotives and didn’t have access to modern telecommunications technologies.
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