The summer of our discontent
We have all experienced pain at the pump this summer. It appears that many unforeseen circumstances contributed to this most recent spike in oil prices—increased travel demand, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and a world that discourages new fossil fuel exploration.
This isn’t the first time our nation has felt the stress created by high fuel prices. For those of you who were not yet on the planet, America experienced an oil crisis in 1973. In October of that year, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announced an oil embargo to punish nations, including the United States, that supported Israel during the Yom Kippur War. The embargo lasted until the following March. During that time, the price per barrel of oil quadrupled from $3 to $12. While that doesn’t seem like a lot to those of us used to $100+ per-barrel prices, it was a major shock at the time.
Not only was fuel more expensive, it was also in short supply. Long gas lines appeared ev ....
Other Transport News
Grindrod, Vitol to invest R1.8bn in expanding Maputo’s Matola Terminal
Freight services and banking group Grindrod will spend its share of R1.8-billion to upgrade the Matola drybulk terminal at the Port of Maputo. The JSE-listed Gindrod holds a 65% share in the Matola Terminal joint venture (JV), with energy and commodities group Vitol the other shareholder.
South African airlines welcome re-establishment of country’s essential air services councils
The announcement that the South African government had appointed new air services councils was welcomed by the local commercial aviation sector on Thursday. There were two such councils, the International Air Services Council and the (domestic) Air Services Licensing Council. These councils were responsible for considering applications for, and awarding (or withdrawing) the licenses to operate which were required by South African airlines and other commercial aviation services operators. The previous councils had ceased to exist in April last year, when the terms of office of their councillors had expired.
Load-shedding, vandalism wreak havoc with train services in Cape Town
Train commuters in Cape Town had to keep their fingers crossed during load-shedding on Wednesday as Metrorail worked to keep systems up and running. On Tuesday, services had to be cancelled because of vandalism at the Tafelbaai high voltage substation, on top of load-shedding.
Eskom, Hawks swoop on cable theft syndicate in Mpumalanga
Power utility Eskom reports that its investigators, along with members of the Vosman South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime Unit on March 8 arrested at least 14 suspects involved in alleged cable theft. The suspects were arrested during the raid of premises in Vosman, Mpumalanga. Large volumes of cables, comprising aluminium and copper, were found stored on multiple premises, including that of a scrap metal dealer in eMalahleni.
IntelliTrans Gives Rail Freight Shippers Guidance on Carta Porte
Non-Compliance Results in Fines, Seizure of Goods, Suspensions
Resilinc Adds Four Execs to its Leadership Team
Resilinc, the world’s leading supply chain risk monitoring, mapping, and resiliency solution, today announced the addition of four executives to its leadership team.
Manhattan Active® Transportation Management Transforms Distribution Processes Across ICA Sweden’s St
Sweden’s largest grocery retailer streamlines inbound and outbound flows of goods with Manhattan’s leading transportation management solution
Sanral dealing with ‘significant backlog’ in procurement
The South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) says it is dealing with a “significant backlog in procurement”. There are a number of reasons for this, including a process between the agency and National Treasury to seek clarification on the 30% subcontracting clause, which took 18 months to complete, as well as the interpretation of the term ‘local’, which led to the stalling of 64 Sanral projects, caused by community disruptions, says the agency.
Presidential hopeful plans to shun debt-fueled Kenyan projects
Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto, the front-runner to become the nation’s next leader, will scale back spending on mega roads, rail and energy projects, rein in debt and pump more money into small business if he wins this year’s election. The 55-year-old former cabinet minister plans to implement a so-called Bottom-Up model, with the creation of a 200-billion-shilling ($1.8-billion) fund for small businesses to expand their production in industries ranging from housing and food-processing to manufacturing. It would be financed by diverting resources within the budget — estimated by the National Treasury to be about 3.3-trillion shillings in 2022-23 — from major infrastructure projects, Ruto said in an interview.
Closures, diversions on the cards as M2 rehabilitation to continue to June
The Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) has warned motorists of possible traffic delays owing to partial lane closures on the M2 from March 7. The JRA had appointed the Johannesburg Development Agency to implement the long-term rehabilitation of the M2 to keep the ageing infrastructure serviceable and functional for motorists. The project started in September 2021 and is expected to be completed by the end of June.