South African Business 2020 edition

OVERVIEW Transport and

OVERVIEW Transport and logistics A private-public partnership is upgrading facilities at ports. Africa’s first plastic road is under construction near Humansdorp in the Eastern Cape. Finding ways of creating roads that can last longer is an important priority for South Africa which has yet to find a way to direct significant amounts of goods traffic back to the rail system and away from trucks. Scottish company MacRebur will partner with local firms Scribante Construction and SP Excel Holdings in building 1km of road to test the technology which adds waste plastics to asphalt for road construction to strengthen the bitumen binder. It is estimated that 1.8-million plastic bags could go into the building of just 1km of road. With the completion the Gauteng Freeway Project, the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) has been tackling big projects in every province: • the R573 east of Johannesburg, traverses three provinces and is used by 50 000 commuters daily, is to be upgraded • the R1.14-billion Mount Edgecombe interchange has been opened in KwaZulu-Natal • the R71 road out of Polokwane towards Moria in Limpopo carries more than 17 000 vehicles per day at Easter time. A new intersection and double carriageways have been constructed • the N2 between Mtunzini toll plaza and Empangeni has been made safer by the creation of a dual carriageway • the Wild Coast toll road project – the bridge over the Mtentu River will be the highest bridge in the country at 217m and will cost R1.6-billion South Africa has 21 000km of railway lines and 747 000km of roads, 325 019 heavy-load vehicles and the road freight industry employs 65 000 drivers. The logistics and courier market is worth R10-billion. There are 135 licensed airports in the country, 10 of which have international status. SECTOR INSIGHT Plastic bags are being used in road construction. Air Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) owns and operates the country’s 10 biggest airports. The company also manages airports in India and Brazil. Ekurhuleni wants to leverage the location of South Africa’s biggest airport, OR Tambo International, into a major economic asset. OR Tambo International Airport in Gauteng (pictured) caters for more than 21-million passengers annually. The Cape Town International Airport recorded 10-million passengers in 2016. King Shaka International Airport (KSIA) is north of Durban. SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2020 86

OVERVIEW Several airports are possible future regional freight nodes: Wonderboom Airport in Pretoria, Polokwane Airport in Limpopo and Mahikeng Airport in North West Province. The South African Department of Transport has several agencies and businesses reporting to it: Air Traffic and Navigation Services Company, Airports Company South Africa (ACSA), National Transport Information System, Road Accident Fund, South African Civil Aviation Authority, South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA), the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) and the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (PRASA). Rail Transnet is the state-owned enterprise focussed on transport and logistics. It comprises Transnet Freight Rail, Transnet Engineering, Transnet National Ports Authority, Transnet Port Terminals and Transnet Pipelines. Transnet Freight Rail’s operations represent about 80% of Africa’s rail infrastructure. With 25 000 employees TFR has specialist divisions for hauling coal and iron ore together with a general freight division which transports everything from grain to chemicals. The major rail haulage lines are the manganese line from the Northern Cape to Port Elizabeth; iron ore from Sishen in the Northern Cape to the Port of Saldanha; and from the coal fields of Mpumalanga to Richards Bay. More than 55-million tons is regularly transported along the former and upwards of 70-million tons can travel annually along the latter. A total of 600 new passenger trains will be added to Metrorail’s fleet at a cost of R51-billion. Transnet Freight Rail has ordered 1 064 diesel and electric locomotives from four suppliers. Sheltam Group is expanding its services beyond rail services. A new lease company (for rolling stock) and an investment company (focussed on rail infrastructure) underpin the group’s African ambitions. Logistics South Africa’s largest agricultural company has signed an agreement with Transnet to partner in upgrading grain facilities at two ports. East London and Durban will receive R100-million revamps as part of a 15- year tender won by Afgri. The East London Grain Elevator is operating well below capacity, processing about 90 000 tons a year. At full capacity, the elevator could handle as much as 720 000 tons. Durban’s other two agricultural terminals are currently run by Bidvest and SA Bulk Terminals. Transnet is hoping that the partnership will help it towards reaching its goals in its road-to-rail strategy. The building of the Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone (SEZ) will boost Limpopo’s role as a transport and logistics hub. The Musina Intermodal Terminal is 15km from the busy Beit Bridge border crossing. It will boost efforts to move cargo from road to rail. The Nkomazi SEZ near the border with Mozambique in Mpumalanga has similar advantages as it forms part of the Maputo Development Corridor. Investment in improved infrastructure is being made at all of South Africa’s ports and Special Economic Zones are in place at four of them. The Maputo Development Corridor is Africa’s most advanced spatial development initiative. Run by the Maputo Development Corridor Logistics Initiative (MCLI), the corridor runs from near Pretoria in Gauteng, to Maputo in Mozambique. The Harrismith Logistics Hub at the Maluti-A-Phofung SEZ on the N3 is an inland port that can handle cargo containers and shift cargo from road to rail, reducing congestion and costs. ONLINE RESOURCES Airports Company South Africa: www.acsa.co.za National Department of Transport: www.transport.gov.za Road Freight Association of South Africa: www.rfa.co.za South African Association of Freight Forwarders: saaff.org.za South African Heavy Haul Association: www.saheavyhaul.co.za 87 SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2020