Road hauliers get wise to pending World Cup disruptions

TRANSPORT OPERATORS are unprepared for either the
disruptions that will affect their work or the immense profits to be made from the
2010 World Cup, football star and World Cup promoter Gary Bailey told delegates
at last week’s Road Freight Association convention in Swaziland. Few road operators in
attendance were aware or prepared for the disruptions ahead.
l FIFA will commandeer one lane of every highway,
ensuring anticipated congestion will worsen.
l Cash in transit will become impossible
because security trucks will not be able to travel swiftly, as required by
their insurers. Midnight to dawn deliveries will
be required, necessitating graveyard shifts for
transport firms, banks and ATM fillers.
l 2400 bus coaches will be required nationally. Only 400 are available in SA.
The majority must be imported from overseas
during the northern summer when coaches are
mostly in use. l FIFA can close down
SA’s city centres at will, making goods transport
problematic.
Some operators quizzed by FTW said they might
shutter their operations for the four-week duration of the event. But they still
wondered how they could get in on potentially lucrative World Cup business.
“The trucking industry is required to come up
with solutions,” Bailey said. “Businesses will be looking to the transport industry
for logistics solutions. Foreign firms that pay hard foreign currency offer a big opportunity. Hire extra trucks, get more logistics staff.”
He advised transport firms to lease vehicles rather than purchase them, given the
finite duration of the World Cup.
“There is lots of money to be made in the four week run-up and the four weeks of the tournaments, but then it’s back to normal. The
idea is to use other people’s existing fleets and storage facilities,” he said.
“Three types of cargo will have to be moved:
tournament, hospitality and spectator, which is retail material,” Bailey said.