Sustainable freight transport in South Africa:Domestic intermodal solutions

Abstract

Due to the rapid deregulation of freight transport in South Africa two decades ago, and low historical investment in rail (with resultant poor service delivery), an integrated alternative to road and rail competition was never developed. High national freight logistics costs, significant road infrastructure challenges and environmental impact concerns of a road-dominated freight transport market have, however, fuelled renewed interest in intermodal transport solutions. In this article, a high-level business case for domestic intermodal solutions in South Africa is presented. The results demonstrate that building three intermodal terminals to connect the three major industrial hubs (i.e. Gauteng, Durban and Cape Town) through an intermodal solution could reduce transport costs (including externalities) for the identified 11.5 million tons of intermodalfriendly freight flows on the Cape and Natal corridors by 42% (including externalities).

Reducing national freight logistics costs risk in a high-oil-price environment

“…Primary energy consumption of road freight transport is approximately four times higher than that of rail (Association of American Railroads, 2011). Consequently, in the UK, mainland Europe and the USA the fastest growth of rail freight tonnage is anticipated in the intermodal sectors (Havenga, 2011b;McKinnon, 2009). Other sectors, such as construction and metals, where rail freight originates from industrial premises with rail sidings, are also expected to experience strong growth (McKinnon, 2009).…”

South Africa's domestic intermodal imperative

“…Initial research based on the 2009 data identified 192 million tons (or 100 billion tonkm) of corridor freight (Havenga, Simpson, Fourie, & De Bod, 2011). The research methodology on which these figures were based has since been greatly improved and the 2009 data was updated in conjunction with the 2010 data that was researched based on the same new methodology.…”

Investigation Into the Bimodal Transportation Process by Modelling Rail Module States

“…In developed countries logistics and intermodal transportation have become major factors for economic development, spatial communication and market integration. International traffic flows are practically not considered without intermodal technologies, namely, a network of logistics centers and intermodal transport terminals, as stated in studies [4] and [5]. However, to develop such a system, the technical equipment of these terminals and operational procedures should be considered more thoroughly.…”

“…7, which testify that the following factors influence the probability of a steady state: -according to Fig. 6: 3 Р is the probability of change from truck running gear to rail running gear at the departure station, 5 Р is the probability of change from rail running gear to truck running gear at the destination station, 7 Р is the probability of waiting for rail running gear, 8 Р is the probability of waiting for truck running gear; -according to Fig. 7: 3 Р is the probability of freight transportation by rail to the departure station, 5 Р is the probability of freight delivery with a truck tractor without running gear change by rail to the consignee, 7 Р is the probability of waiting for the truck tractor at the consignor's, 8 Р is the probability of staying in the yard.…”