Nompumelelo Magwaza
TRANSNET Freight Rail (TFR) says it has almost completed an integrated investment plan for the Maputo Development Corridor, which will result in more freight movement by rail.
The corridor links the South African and Swaziland railways with the Mozambican network and competes with about 800 cargo trucks crossing the Mozambican border every day.
Partners in the investment plan include TFR, the Port of Maputo, Caminhos de Ferros de Mozambique (CFM) and Amatola Terminals.
Nyameka Madikizela, who chairs the Maputo Development Corridor executive committee, said on Tuesday that the integrated investment plan would “allow us to move a longer train and carry more cargo” through to the Port of Maputo.
It was planned to start in the middle of next year.
Madikizela said the plan would facilitate the use of trains with 75 wagons, up from the current limit of 60 wagons.
Although she did not put a price tag on the investment, she said: “It is not going to be a little money but it will enable us to move more cargo and take advantage of the cargo which is currently moved by road.”
She said TFR would provide the additional wagons but Mozambican rail utility CFM was also planning to invest.
“Part of the joint investment will enable us to invest in the same type of wagons as well as locomotives so that we can all work seamlessly,” she said.
The investment plan had grown out of a joint operation project between Swaziland Railways, TFR, the Port of Maputo and CFM. The project also gave birth to a joint operation centre in Maputo, which was officially launched on Tuesday.
The centre had been set up to focus on the integration of planning and operations as well as to manage all cross-border projects.
It was designed to create a borderless rail network between the three countries.
Speaking at the launch, Transnet chief executive Brian Molefe said that since last year the initiative had already helped cut the turnaround time at Komatipoort by 24 percent. There had also been a 57 percent reduction in dwell time at the Port of Maputo, he said.
Molefe said the joint operations centre employed 20 people, four of whom were from Transnet.
“This project is an indication that if we co-operate as a region we will achieve great rail services and be able to increase global competitiveness,” Molefe said.
The joint operation centre was instrumental in lifting freight rail volume to Mozambique from 2.6 million tons a year to 4.5 million tons.
The centre had also seen magnatite exports through Maputo increase from an average of 10 trains a week to an average of 18 trains per week. It had improved turnaround time by 47 percent from 118 hours to 62 hours.
Molefe said the joint venture would also serve as the blueprint for regional collaboration with the focus on creating continental partnerships.
In a similar initiative, Transnet had partnered with frontier countries on the north-south corridor, including Zimbabwe, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as with Botswana on the east-west corridor.
Madikizela said the main purpose of the operation centre was to link and improve efficiencies on each of the rail networks.
“We want to look at corridors being linked by the cargo flow and we will do this by looking at the origin to destination of cargo, which will guide us in improving efficiencies,” she said.
She said all involved organisations were now able to plan rail cargo on a weekly basis and share data as well as borders.