Trucking war costs a bundle and sabotages economy – economist

A burning truck costs at least R2 million, which means billions of rands have been lost by the trucking industry in recent attacks and looting, according to leading economist Mike Schussler.

The violence has left at least one driver dead but companies have no other means of transporting goods efficiently.

Rail “is only good for bulk commodities, such as chrome, coal, iron ore and manganese, but proving very slow … compared to trucks, which are more costly”, said Schussler.

“The other problem with rail is that much of its infrastructure has been stolen, with many African countries, like Zimbabwe, without a working infrastructure, especially between Harare and Bulawayo.

“We have now seen with the Prasa [Passenger Rail Agency] thing that on many of the lines, overhead cables have been stolen.

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“Use of diesel locomotives – even for passengers – is much more expensive and we don’t have much of those locomotives left.

“Many customers of the transport industry I have spoken to are struggling. Where they were supposed to have delivered nine train loads full of iron ore to ArcelorMittal, Transnet delivers seven on good days – four or three on bad days.

“Things can get delayed for days before delivery.

“It is service and criminality that is affecting the entire transport industry: rail overhead cables are being stolen, trucks are being burnt and you have the taxi violence – all amounting to economic sabotage.

“There are so few people using Prasa at the moment, which has gone from over 55 million people using passenger trains in the past 10 years to less than 400 000 per month.”

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Transnet Freight Rail spokesman Mike Asefovitz said it had made “headway” in its road-to-rail strategy “by developing competitive rail solutions”. He shrugged off claims of company inefficiencies.

Turning to the trucking industry, Schussler said: “Truck drivers are now making use of different routes during daytime and no longer after sunset, a matter that is driving up costs. This situation will also drive up food prices.

“Being unable to use your truck on a 24/7 basis means that you only pay off your truck in the 12 hours of daylight.”

Describing the situation as “serious”, Schussler warned that persistent action against the trucking industry and the blocking of some major highways would impact negatively on the economy.

He doubted the government’s capability “to deal with this swiftly. It would help if the police arrests some of the culprits … especially kingpins.

“Hopefully the ongoing talks between government and the industry through the National Bargaining Council [for the Road Freight and Logistics Industry] to ensure that 85% of the contracted truck drivers are South African yields desired results,” he said.

– brians@citizen.co.za

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