Directorate: Freight Transport

KwaZulu-Natal Province is the main gateway for exports and imports for the country and the Region as a whole. It accounts for more than 75% of all exports and imports. It is for this reason that the Province’s freight transport system should be of world standard so as to enhance the competitiveness of the country in terms of exports. The first task was the consolidation of freight transport functions of the Department into the Directorate. To effect this, the abnormal loads and weigh-bridge sections of the Road Safety Engineering Directorate were moved to the Freight Directorate.

• Controlling damage to the road network from freight.
  Cargo is predominantly moving by road, and rail is being underutilized. Most rail branch line are operating sub-optimally while others are no longer functioning at all for example, Kelso-Ixopo line and Gingindlovu-Eshowe line. Harding-Port Shepstone line is no longer carrying any freight. A study in 1998 revealed that if branch lines in the Province were to be closed down, R95 million per year would have to be spent by the government on road maintenance due to excessive destruction attributable to additional road freight. The economic case for the rescue of branch lines will be made in order to ensure optimal economically efficient use of transport infrastructure. The Freight Transport Directorate is going to embark on strategies aimed at shifting cargo from road to rail where appropriate and in consultation with the industry. Among strategies being considered are further enhancing overloading control by the use of scanning systems eg. Weigh in Motion permanent sites installed to provide constant and fairly accurate overloading statistics while the vehicle are still in motion. Another scanning system is the Vehicle Load Monitoring (VLM) surveys, which is a mobile weighing mat placed on the road surface and vehicles made to slowly ride over the mat which transfers the axle loads onto a laptop computer. The benefit of this scanning device is it can be installed on any road at any location.
  
  The Freight Directorate is presently implementing the Road Transport Management System (RTMS) which is an industry led self regulation system which is proving very successful. Other strategies are possibly prescribing modes for cargo moving on routes parallel to rail. Also reducing truck sizes on our Provincial roads that were not designed to carry such heavy loads is being considered. South Africa’s 56 tons permissible mass load is the highest in the world.
  
  
• Development of SMME’s and BEE
  Large companies are currently dominating transport Industry and emerging small operators find it extremely difficult to break through. Even though in the road freight industry there are schemes like the owner-driver scheme, which try to address the situation, dissatisfaction exists as to whether such schemes do train these individuals into independent entrepreneurs. The primary objective of the directorate in this issue will be to encourage entry of small operators into the freight transport industry. This is in line with Government policies aimed at including small operators, especially those who were previously excluded from the mainstream economy of the country.
  
  
• Rural Freight Transport Development
  Communities in the rural areas work hard at trying to improve their lives by being involved in craft and other activities. They need reliable and affordable access to markets to sell their products. Lack of reliable and affordable freight transport limits their efforts in that they cannot even get their products into local markets. Exports markets are even more difficult to access. It is for this reason that they are always seen along roadsides trying to sell to passing motorists. The objective of this directorate is to optimize freight transport to support rural development initiatives and vice versa. There is a need to address the logistics of transporting rural agricultural produce and crafts to markets and rural development initiatives. In order to ensure this, the Freight Directorate has already initiated talks with the Department of Agriculture, Economic Development and Tourism and the Cut Flower export council.
  
  
• Enhancing world class flow of exports and imports through our province.
  There are two export harbours in the province. Durban is the busiest container port in the region while Richards Bay is the world-class exporter of bulk coal. Bottlenecks are, however, being experienced especially in the Port of Durban. This becomes more manifest during busy seasons like year-end period. This situation negatively affects competitiveness of the country and needs to be eliminated. The aim of the Directorate will be to promote the Province as the most attractive freight transport route for exports and imports in the region. This needs to be done through enhancing efficiency in the export corridors and our major ports Durban and Richards Bay.
  
  
• Transport Academy
  The skills shortage poses a severe threat to the road transport industry. The Sector Skills Plan Report reveals that the country is experiencing a relative scarcity of business skills, technical and driving skills across the spectrum. There is great need for skills upliftment programmes in the trucking and public transport industry. The KZN Department of Transport has identified the need of training the operators and drivers of the freight and public transport industry. The Transport Academy will help to address the shortage of truck drivers and improves driving capability so that road accidents will be reduced.
  
  
• HIV Awareness Campaign
  The Medical Research Council has revealed frightening figures of infection by HIV among truck driver. The surveys which were conducted along the N11 and N3 show that this is a national problem. New infections are taking place on a daily basis and if not controlled will result in economic disaster as more economically active individuals are becoming victims. The situation is perceived to be more serious in the transport industry especially long distance truck drivers. The objective of the campaign is to increase awareness on HIV/AIDS amongst the truck drivers in KwaZulu-Natal, whilst at the same time ensuring the well being of drivers that are already affected.