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FREIGHT & TRADING WEEKLY
FRIDAY 28 August 2009 NO. 1877
The Freight Community’s Weekly Newspaper for Import / Export decision makers – on subscription
TFR maps out growth strategy for container business By Liesl Venter Transnet Freight Rail has embarked on a range of initiatives to grow its share of container business from 17% to 30% in the next four years. This includes the establishment of a specialised unit, the container and automotive division, set to be launched in September this year, and collaboration with shipping lines, freight forwarders and cargo owners. Greater integration with ports is also a high priority. Bheka Xaba, sales and marketing executive manager for the container and automotive division, admits that TFR has not exploited its potential to the full. “In the past five years industry demand has been TFR’s Bheka Xaba ... eyes on growth. growing by double digits but TFR only managed to grow And already, he says, its capacity by 2%. We have the plans and initiatives are now implemented a strategy bearing fruit. “In December that will see us grow our 2007 we had an average of market share in the maritime three trains per day moving industry from 17% to 30% by from our yard in City Deep 2012/13 and in the domestic to Durban and back. That or crossborder logistics sector has been increased to an MF00042_print ads_CTP AM Page from 5% to 20% in the 4/7/09 9:11 average of 165 trains a day same period. at the moment while we are
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US-Angola service launched By Alan Peat
convinced we are going to meet our target of 24 trains a day by the end of the 2009/2010 financial year.” Xaba said the transformation journey had seen TFR investing heavily in port and rail as well as its City Deep operations to create capacity aheadC ofM Y
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expected demand. “A few months back our trains were still interdependent, but we have changed it completely. Our times have improved and we are seeing very few delays occurring. Our train capacity utilisation is now around 95% To page 12 MY CY CMY K
Born of a combination of two long-established shipping services, the Angola Atlantic Line (AAL) looks set to make a big mark on the US-Angola sea trade. It combines the oceangoing ships of the Gulf Africa Line (GAL) – run in SA by Maritime Carrier Shipping (Macs) – and the feeder coastal vessels of Angolana de Navegacao (Anna) – represented in SA by Meihuizen International – in a new, regular, multipurpose liner service from the US Gulf to Angola. The ships will hub at the Namibian port of Walvis Bay, a transhipment point being co-ordinated by Meihuizen, according to Mark Kilbride. And the new, every 20-day multi-purpose service – handling bulk, breakbulk and containerised cargoes – is a perfect match of ships, according to Macs breakbulk manager, Lars Greiner. To page 12