Transport and logistics

Achieving ambitious export goals will boost the logistics sector.

Plans to expand exports in a variety of sectors will rest heavily on the transport and logistics sector being up to the task of handling increased volumes.

A total of 82% of South Africa’s air cargo is transported through OR Tambo International Airport and Gauteng has several cargo and freight handling facilities well-equipped to deal with rail and road deliveries and despatches.

A specific goal of the Provincial Government of Gauteng is to make the Transnet Tambo-Springs Logistics Gateway the biggest inland logistics hub and dry port in Africa by 2030.

The Tambo-Springs Gateway near Katlehong is an inter-modal facility which can transfer containers from rail or road to storage facilities and ultimately to the customer. Existing freight rail lines run through the site and link it to the seaports of Durban, Cape Town and

Ngqura (Port Elizabeth). The aim with this new facility is to improve efficiency. It is run by the Tambo Springs Development Company.

The intention is to add to the port: • a logistics park (transportation, processing, manufacture, warehousing and distribution). • a business park with a retail element. • a residential component. • an agro-industrial section.

At an Innovation in Transport Seminar held in 2019, the provincial government stressed the importance of digital competence (“smart mobility”) in the transport sector as ever-more complex transactions take place across international borders. This will only grow as the effect of the African Continental Trade Agreement (AfCTA), signed in 2019, comes into effect, allowing for greater and freer trade across the continent.

The health of the transport and logistics networks of the province is key to any economic growth plans. The provincial government has identified logistics hubs, the road network, intermodal facilities, rolling stock, and buses and taxis as key components of the drive to transform, modernise and reindustrialise the regional economy.

Road infrastructure projects are intended to bring in other major investments and connect new economic nodes such as the Tambo Springs Logistics Gateway, the planned new megacities (Vaal River City and Lanseria), the new Special Economic Zones with current economic nodes and existing townships. In the short term, 18 major roads will be rehabilitated, upgraded and constructed, especially in Sedibeng and the West Rand.

The concept of a Gauteng City Region is key to much of the planning for the area’s economic future. Infrastructure development is underway along corridors, each of which has a specific focus and it is instructive that each of them has a transport and/or logistics element.

SECTOR INSIGHT An African free trade agreement is certain to increase transport volumes.

The corridors and focus areas are: • Thami Mnyele: transport, BRT, M&T Development and Plumbago

Industrial Park. • OR Tambo Aerotropolis: creative sector, technology, research and development and logistics. • Thelle Mogoerane: logistics, Carnival Junction, OR Tambo inland port, Prasa rolling stock manufacturing facility run by Gibela Rail

Consortium.

The OR Tambo International Airport Special Economic Zone (ORTIA SEZ) has diversified beyond the existing Jewellery Manufacturing Precinct in the shape of a R400-million agro-processing plant.

The concept of an aerotropolis is for the airport to become a hub of economic activity in the same way that cities anchor various economic sectors that grow up around the centre.

Airports

OR Tambo International Airport caters for more than 20-million passengers every year.

Lanseria Airport has grown in importance with kulula, FlySafair and Mango using the airport located to the north of Johannesburg. It is a convenient landing point for travellers bound for regional centres like Rustenburg in the North West.

Four airlines continued to offer flights during the Covid-19 lockdown: FlySafair, Airlink, Cemair and Mango. Three airlines went into business rescue: SAA, SA Express and Comair (which is a British Airways franchisee and runs the low-cost kulula brand).

Gauteng has several smaller airports that host mostly commercial aircraft: • Rand Airport in Germiston. • Grand Central Airport in Midrand. • Wonderboom Airport in Pretoria North. • Waterkloof Air Force base, south of Pretoria.

The Commercial Aviation Manufacturing Association South Africa (CAMASA) reports that 50 companies are active in the sector, employing more than 3 000 people in highly skilled jobs. Almost all the activity is around Johannesburg and Cape Town and the sector (which encompasses aero-structures and systems, manufacturing, design and engineering) is responsible for R3-billion in exports every year.

ONLINE RESOURCES

Airports Company South Africa: www.acsa.co.za Road Freight Association of South Africa: www.rfa.co.za South African Association of Freight Forwarders: saaff.org.za South African National Road Agency: www.sanral.co.za Tambo Springs Logistics Gateway: www.tambosprings.co.za Rail

The Gautrain, a high-speed train linking the centre of Johannesburg, Sandton, ORTIA and Pretoria, has been successful in terms of its original brief.

But the Gautrain is expensive and not designed to cater for mass public transportation. A feasibility study has been completed on the expansion of the Gautrain and its full integration into the public transport system. New areas that will be covered according to the plan include Mamelodi in Tshwane, Boksburg in Ekurhuleni, Randburg-Lanseria in Johannesburg, Mogale City and Syferfontein in the West Rand and Roodepoort/Jabulani.

The Gautrain has reactivated property development in many areas around its stations and made sites near stations attractive to developers and investors.

Transnet Rail Engineering (TRE) has a major presence in Gauteng and the metropolitan lines that ferry commuters are run by the Passenger Rail Agency (PRASA). The Wits Metrorail system serves Johannesburg and its surrounds. Park Station, in the north of the central business district, is the largest station in Africa and acts as the metropolitan hub. ■