Transporting goods by road is becoming increasingly challenging, but there are ways to address some of the issues.

The proportion of commercial freight tonnage transported by road in South Africa has steadily increased over the last ten years to approximately 89% today. This increase is mainly due to fluctuating and increasing needs of South Africa’ supply chains and a number of challenges faced by the National rail operator such as low service levels, lack of flexibility and capital investment delays. This puts an enormous strain on the road infrastructure, much of which is already in a bad state of repair, and results in increased traffic congestion, and higher vehicle maintenance costs. The impact of this is an increase in travel distances resulting in longer turnaround times reducing overall supply chain efficiency. According to the National Planning Commission, 20% of the paved road network is currently classified as being in a “poor” or “very poor” condition.