SA ROADS MAY BAN TRUCKS
Posted on 26 October 2009
In terms of strategy devised by the South African government, the conveyance of certain commodities by road may be prohibited, to force consigners to use rail instead. Writing in the Daily News (Durban), Roy Cokayne quotes Road Freight Association (RFA) chief executive Sharmini Naidoo saying such legislation could have a serious impact on the road freight industry: “It would affect operators, suppliers and manufacturers, as well as customers.” Possible effects, Cockayne speculates, include higher pricing for end-users, lower gross vehicle mass and reduced payloads, doubling logistics costs, more vehicles on the road and changed vehicle specifications. The intention of a planned reduction in axle limits on secondary roads is to bring rail back as an important mode of transport, but – Econometrix consultant Frank Beeton told him – has the potential to damage the economy, at the same time creating confusion and “grey areas” if the government prescribed which goods were not permitted to be carried by road. Notice of the planned prohibition – which did not specify actual commodities – plus a reduction in axle load limits on secondary roads from 9,000kg to 8,000kg, was contained in a letter sent to the RFA and other transport stakeholders by Department of Transport (DoT) acting chief director for road traffic regulations John Motsatsing. The intention, he explained, is to save “adjacent or surrounding road networks through the revitalisation of those (rail) branch lines”. Beeton, Cockayne says, points out that the volumes transferred to rail would have to be fairly substantial “or else there is no point”. According to Naidoo, reduction in the maximum rear axle mass loads flow from the urgent need to do something about the deteriorating road network, because no funds are available to continually sustain or repair roads which have “a five-year life span left before collapse”. The secondary network, she said, refers to all public roads not proclaimed as national roads. Transport stakeholders have until 6 November to comment on the proposals.
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