Industry has heaved a huge sigh of relief following the announcement on Friday by Minister of Transport, Dr Blade Nzimande, to extend the moratorium on the movement of high cube containers at a height of 4.6m by a year.
This comes after years of lobbying, letter writing and calls to the Department of Transport (DoT) on the implementation of regulation 224 (b) of the National Road Traffic Regulations, 2000 under the National Road Traffic Act, of 1996 that restricts the height of a vehicle transporting a high cube container to 4.3m. Following a meeting in Cape Town last Thursday where several industry representatives met with Nzimande and officials from the DoT, the Ports Regulator, Transnet Port Terminals (TPT), Sanral and Western Cape government officials, Nzimande instituted a moratorium on the application of punitive measures on regulation 224 (b).
He has also instructed law enforcement agencies to collect data on the movement of high cubes for the purposes of a smooth transition when the period expires. This gives the industry breathing space until January 1, 2020. “It is a reasonable resolution,” chairman of the Cape Port Liaison Forum,Mike Walwyn, told FTW. “Of course the issue has not been resolved and it remains a work in progress, but I think real progress has been made around the issue of transporting high cube containers.” Describing Nzimande as “very approachable” and “willing to listen to industry’s perspectives", Walwyn said it was clear that the Minister was intent on finding a solution that worked for both industry and the DoT. “He is undoubtedly someone we can do business with. It was a very positive engagement.”
Nzimande’s decision brought extreme relief, said Gavin Kelly, acting CEO of the Road Freight Association.
“More importantly, it shows that the Minister and his team are serious about really looking into legislative matters and that instead of having knee jerk reactions, they are making the effort to resolve it from a logical point of view.” Kelly told FTW that without this intervention from Nzimande the country would have been heading for an extreme crisis. “TPT had already indicated they would not be handling high cubes come November this year and transporters were walking away from the commissions – and considering that high cubes are fast becoming the norm around the world, this had the potential to really hurt the economy.”
But not everyone in industry was ecstatic over Nzimande’s decision with some stakeholders telling FTW a technical task team (see story on page 11) and research study were superfluous and that Nzimande should have simply revoked the moratorium and started proceedings to change the legislation from a 4.3m height restriction to 4.6m. Walwyn said this could very well still happen.
“Judging from the meeting with the Minister he is available to listen to industry and committed to finding a way forward that is in the best interests of the country. This is a space to watch.”
