As motorists continue to bear the brunt of truck congestion on the John Ross highway, Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) on Tuesday announced initiatives to improve the situation.
The State-owned rail company said as a commitment to continue service improvement and ramp-up of tonnes migrated from road to rail in line with its overall recovery plan, TFR has undergone a successful shut on the Coal Export Line which predominantly delivers coal to the Port of Richards Bay.
According to TFR, the shut focused mainly on initiatives to unlock train slots on the coal line. To this end, two additional slots and 28km of speed restrictions were unlocked.
This has enabled TFR to increase from 24 planned train slots per day to 28 for the Richards Bay Coal Terminal.
“The GF Coal channel, which facilitates the export of coal through the Richards Bay Multi-purpose Terminals (MPT), and the Navi Trade Terminals, had seen a ramp-up from 21 trains a week to 28 planned trains a week in the first six months of the calendar year. As a result of the shut, this channel is now undertaking a further ramp-up to 32 trains a week by 30 September,” said TFR.
The entity said this would now equate to a further 1 035 truckloads off the road. Furthermore, TFR and Eswatini Rail, in collaboration with customers, have also commenced a coal service via the Golela line to Richards Bay to further boost coal haulage to the port.
“During the period of the annual coal line shut, exporters will generally ramp-up road volume to supplement what would have gone on rail, as they seek to keep supply chains operational and meet firm vessel commitments. This is one of the key reasons truck congestion became significant again in the Richards Bay port precinct towards the weekend of 9 August,” said TFR.
The entity added that as the rail service returns to normal after the shut, and the indicated ramp-up initiatives take effect, Road Motor Transport (RMT) levels in the Port of Richards Bay are expected to normalise to pre-shut levels.
“While TFR implements a number of initiatives, supported by the National Logistics Crisis Committee (NLCC) and other stakeholders to recover capacity on the coal line back to the pre-Covid numbers in line with the Transnet Recovery Plan, TFR is exploring various last-mile strategies to optimise port logistics output. These strategies will aim to further reduce congestion in the port precinct while allowing those exporters who have an appetite to road haul to continue doing so at a faster turnaround time,” said TFR.
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