The government hasn’t shown “the faintest interest” in a R50bn private sector initiative to create an inland logistics hub and reduce the congestion crippling South Africa’s most economically critical freight corridor, says its developer Francois Nortjé.
“Together, we can turn around the Durban-Gauteng freight corridor, which currently is a logistics nightmare,” says Nortjé, who presented a white paper last month detailing how the proposed Port of Gauteng hub will reduce truck traffic on the N3 by one-third by making rail competitive again.
The Port of Gauteng is being developed by NT55 Investments, which already owns 260ha of the 1,400ha earmarked for the hub along the railway line and N3 freeway southeast of Johannesburg.
“We invited the national department of transport and the Gauteng premier, provincial department of roads, mayors and ward councillors to the white paper launch. They’ve all been invited extensively to engage. Not one of them came to the launch, not one of them has shown the faintest interest,” says Nortjé.
This is in spite of the fact that the initiative aligns with government plans for modernising the country’s transport systems, recognised in the 2013 National Development Plan, to move 50% of freight onto rail by 2030.
“Little progress has been made, and with just four years to go, the need for decisive action is urgent. As road congestion worsens and rail volumes decline, this paper outlines a practical solution, leveraging the Port of Gauteng’s inland hub to restore balance, reduce costs and unlock long-term economic growth,” he says.
We’re creating Africa’s most advanced inland trade gateway. This hub represents our commitment to solving South Africa’s freight crisis while generating massive economic returns
— Francois Nortje
In addition, facilities such as a car terminal and container terminal will facilitate high-volume throughput and transfers between trains and trucks.
The white paper highlights the fact that rail currently moves less than 14% of freight in the Durban-Gauteng corridor.
“We’re creating Africa’s most advanced inland trade gateway. This hub represents our commitment to solving South Africa’s freight crisis while generating massive economic returns.”
The hub will create 50,000 permanent jobs, but that’s just the beginning, he says. “It will be a platform for decades of sustainable growth.”
The project has been in the pipeline since 2012 when Nortjé, with a business and property background, decided to go into logistics properties. By 2018 NT55 Investments had the land, and in October 2019 it launched. “Then came Covid and rail went down to basically one train a day.”
The company has released its white paper now because it feels the time is right, he says. “Our economy is changing to high volume, low margin business, Transnet is putting rail out to private sector participation and the seed money, R500m, is in.”
The speed of the hub’s development will depend on “how quickly the rail comes and how successful rail is, but it will still develop without the rail. If the rail comes it will go much faster. With thousands of trucks coming past the site from Durban every day, it doesn’t need rail to be up and running, but rail will put it on steroids.”
He’s not “fully encouraged” by the progress Transnet is making to increase rail freight volumes. “There are still pockets they need to deal better with to make it work. This corridor has got serious problems. It’s not as simple as just switching to the private sector and it will work.”
The most serious problem is law enforcement. “There’s cable theft and unscrupulous truck operators pushing their luck because there’s no law enforcement. In this respect nothing is changing except getting worse.”
The Port of Gauteng inland hub will be fully developed by 2040 if Transnet transports 50% of cargo by rail, but the signs are not hopeful. The Gauteng transport MEC this year produced a draft 25-year transport plan that was built on Transnet’s 2020 projections and 2020 vision. The draft section dealing with freight was “so flawed”.
“We commented on it in March, they were supposed to release it in May, they haven’t released it,” says Nortjé. “This lack of interest and support will hold us back in the sense that we might not get rail going because nobody is taking seriously what it’s going to need. They’re underestimating the difficulties. They think it’s just a matter of saying, ‘We’re going from road to rail.’ They did that in 2010, it didn’t work, it went backwards. Did the same in 2012. They’ve got no idea what it takes.”
The request-for-information for private sector participation published by the department doesn’t deal with crime or rogue truck operators or the R2.3bn the rail corridor loses every year, he says. “The private sector doesn’t have the means to swing that around. Law enforcement must be sorted out, and then rail needs a subsidy, either from the government or toll road concessions.”
At this rate, there’s no way the NDP’s 2030 target will be met, he says. “The more they talk road to rail the more it’s rail to road. Rail freight on the Durban to Gauteng corridor has gone from 27% of freight moved to 14%, and it’s deteriorated to 10% in September and October. When freight picks up, the road volumes pick up drastically.”
He suspects politicians with vested interests in trucking are holding back the shift from road to rail.
The white paper emphasises the role of performance-based standards (PBS) vehicles, truck and trailer combinations able to carry two containers, which he estimates could reduce truck traffic on the N3 by as much as a third, improving safety in the corridor.
The use of PBS vehicles would reduce accidents by 60%, Nortjé says, but there is opposition to them from vested interests. The lack of political will to tackle fly-by-night truck operators is also a problem, he says.
“Unscrupulous truck operators cut their prices so low that PBS trucks can’t compete. So we’ll always be exposed to the most dangerous trucks. Logistics costs will be lower in Gauteng in rands and cents, but people are paying for that with their lives.”
The Port of Gauteng hub could turn the Durban-Gauteng corridor from a “nightmare” into a car, people and tourist-friendly road.
“But government needs to wake up as to what it will take to make rail work. They talk like they’ve got the political will but their actions don’t show this.”
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