It has been more than a decade, and still there is no solution to South Africa’s contentious high-cube container issue.For months now, the industry has been waiting for legislation to be instituted on relaxation measures, which will allow transporters to move high-cube containers at heights of 4.6m on South Africa’s roads.According to regulation 224 (b) of the National Road Traffic Regulation Act, when containers are transported on the back of a trailer, they may not exceed a height of 4.3m. This is not a problem for standard containers that are 2.6m high. High cubes, however, have an overall height of 2.9m so that when transported on the back of a trailer, they exceed the 4.3m height limitation by 30cm at 4.6m.Industry and government have been at loggerheads for years over this regulation, which prohibits the movement of these containers at a height of 4.6m. A moratorium implemented in 2011 gave blanket exemption to all ISO containers where the overall height exceeded 4.3m. Just before being lifted at the end of 2018, it was extended by the then minister of transport, Blade Nzimande. At the time, the moratorium also suspended the application of punitive measures and called on law enforcement agencies to collect data of vehicles transporting ISO containers during the coming months. It was understood that a research report on the transport of high cubes would be drawn up to gauge if the movement of these containers at 4.6m was dangerous. Since then, that moratorium has also been lifted, but the agreement not to enforce regulation 224 (b) has remained in place and no transporters have been fined or high cubes removed from the road. However, as the law stands today, it is still illegal to transport high cubes at a height of 4.6m.Mike Walwyn is chairman of the Port Liaison Forum in the Western Cape. He was also part of a governmental task team assigned to investigate the matter. Walwyn told Freight News that there had been no further word on the matter since Minister of Transpor t Fikile Mbalula indicated earlier this year that he was considering instituting legislative relaxation measures in respect of high-cube containers, allowing them the same height as double-decker busses.This came after Business Unity South Africa (Busa) and the South African Association of Freight Forwarders (Saaff ) called on the minister to make changes to the regulations and allow high cubes in South Africa.High-cube containers constitute the overwhelming majority of containers currently manufactured and transported internationally, including in neighbouring states. Busa maintains that this regulatory anomaly puts South Africa’s trade and logistics regime out of step with international and regional realities, and undermines the ease of doing business.Walwyn told Freight News that effecting the necessary change would not be a lengthy process as Regulation 224 (b) was not enshrined in the national act, and any changes to it only had to be gazetted by the minister or the Department of Transport without the input of Parliament.He said legal advice from industry experts indicated that only four words needed changing within the existing regulation to allow for the legal transport of high cubes at 4.6m
