A truck rapid transit (TRT) system, with dedicated road infrastructure similar to that provided for the bus rapid transit system being rolled out in many South African cities, could provide the impetus to improve the country’s anaemic economic growth.
During petrochemicals group Shell’s Rimula heavy-duty diesel engine oil launch last month at the Maslow Hotel, in Sandton, independent transport economist Andrew Marsay highlighted that new transport technologies allowed for new types of economic activity.
“Manufacturing and commercial revolutions follow on from transport revolutions, leading to social and economic developments,” he said.
Marsay asserted that road transport offered significantly greater benefits than rail, owing to such transport services’ ability to react immediately to market demand, continuous supply chain control through telemetry and distributional flexibility that was not constrained by contractual timelines.
However, road transport is a significantly higher greenhouse-gas emitter than rail transport, but, Marsay stated, sustainability was determined by “retaining the strengths and mitigating the weaknesses” of road transport.
By creating dedicated truck infrastructure, it would be possible to significantly lower the cost of maintenance on roads that carry a significant amount of heavy-truck traffic. Marsay explained that trucks contributed significantly to the damage of local highways – placing them on fit-for-purpose road infrastructure would significantly reduce maintenance costs.
Further, if a TRT system were to be deployed, the current restrictions on road freight, which cannot exceed 56 t on South African roads, could be increased, resulting in technology innovation for the trucking industry and increased transport loads.
Marsay added that increased transport loads would significantly reduce the kilometre-per-ton cost of road transport even if current toll tariffs were doubled.
He also highlighted that, by providing dedicated truck routes, South African commuters would be much safer than they were on the current mixed-use roads.
Meanwhile, Marsay was critical of State-owned freight logistics group Transnet’s R312.2-billion Market Demand Strategy, saying it was “not a very successful programme”, owing to its high cost.
He argued that Transnet could spend a third of the money and still achieve double its output if it focused on improving infrastructure necessary to deliver bulk materials, such as coal and iron-ore, rather than on entering into the container freight market.
According to Marsay, container freight transport was better suited to a dedicated trucking road, as it improved economic viability because higher payloads could be transported.
“A dedicated transport corridor for trucks could run more efficiently, providing quicker transport times and scheduling reliability, as well as distributional flexibility.”