The Performance of Seaport Clusters - RePub - Erasmus Universiteit ...

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The hinterland access regime in Durban
The Performance of Seaport Clusters
The two dominant hinterland modes in Durban are road and rail transport. The road
transport system is relatively well developed in South Africa and not heavily congested. The
quality of rail services to the hinterland is less well developed. The public organization
Spoornet is the single provider of train services. Spoornet can charge relatively high prices
and operate relatively ineffectively. Furthermore, investment policies are not decided on the
basis of a clear economic logic but interrelated with political issues. The key challenge of the
‘hinterland access regime’ is to improve the rail accessibility of Durban. Table 60 shows
relevant initiatives and investments in this regime in Durban.
Table 60: Relevant initiatives and investments in the hinterland access regime in Durban
Mode of
coordination
Relevant initiatives/investments
Hierarchies Firms have not made investments to improve the hinterland accessibility by rail, because
of Spoornet’s monopoly.
Interfirm
alliances
No interfirm alliances have developed to improve rail accessibility.
Associations The port interests are represented in the Chamber of Commerce’s Port Liaison
Committee, but a ‘rail user forum’ is lacking.
Public-private
partnerships
Public
organizations
No public private partnerships to improve the HAR have been developed.
The port authority has to date not made an impact on the HAR.
Spoornet is a national pubic body with limited decision-making powers located in Durban.
The organization has a shortage of equipment and concentrates on large bulk flows from
the ports to the hinterland.
A promising opportunity 91 to improve the rail accessibility to/from Durban is the development
of a coalition of firms that invest in rail equipment and leases the equipment to Spoornet
(which has a serious shortage of equipment) provided the equipment is utilized on tracks
from Durban and the coalition can contribute to the efficiency of the deployment of the
91 Other opportunities, such as a cargo card or other systems to relieve congestion of trucks at the
terminal, or initiatives to reduce the empty hauls of truckers could be viable as well, but both are
of less priority and risks of failure are higher.