East Africa rail service offers 16-day Jo'burg - Kampala transit

THE LAUNCH of a new train service to Kampala by Johannesburg-based Trans Africa Logistics in November, opened up a new transport corridor for containerised cargo to
East Africa, said director Andre Fourie.
This was a joint effort by various railway administrations to provide a competitive and cost-effective service, he said.
The first train departed from Johannesburg in November and the service has been running fortnightly since.
To date the trains have run extremely well, arriving in Dar es Salaam on schedule within one week of departure. From Johannesburg to Kampala, the transit time is 16 days, said Fourie.
The main advantages of the train service are faster transit times with no delays at borders and/or ports, simplified documentation, no distinction between heavy and light containers and a high degree of security, he said.
The containers are positioned with their doors facing each other and, in addition, guards are provided at the back of the train.
To minimise delays, Spoornet provides a set of locomotives and wagons which travel as a unit to Dar es Salaam. From the transfer point at Kidatu, about 350kms west of Dar es Salaam, Trans Africa Railway Corporation handles the containers by train to Mwanza where the rail trucks, loaded with containers, are transported by ferry across the lake to Kampala.
Trans Africa Rail Corporation (TARC) is a Tanzanian company which has, as major shareholders, the South African Infrastructure Fund, Comazar (a joint venture between Spoornet and Transurb, a Belgian company) and Africa East Coast Corporation which is a group of entrepreneurs. TARC secured the rights for 20 years to run trains on Tanzanian Railways infrastructure with their own staff and rolling stock. For this purpose they are investing in locomotives, rail trucks and containers. In addition, they have built a major transfer terminal at Kidatu to facilitate the movement of containers between the two rail systems which have different rail gauges.
The total investment by TARC amounts to US$5 million. In addition a rail professional stationed in Dar es Salaam will manage TARC.
Trans Africa Logistics was conceived and established to supply freight management and logistics services in East Africa, the Great Lakes region and the Southern African region. It is closely associated with Trans Africa Rail Corporation in that is was appointed their marketing agent and logistics operator.
The majority shareholder of Trans Africa Logistics is the Micor group of companies.
By Anna Cox