Transport News
Transnet plans bond sale under $6bn note programme
Transnet, which runs South Africa’s ports and freight rail networks, is preparing to sell a dollar-denominated bond under a $6-billion note programme, people familiar with the circumstance stated. The bond will be of five-year period and financier conferences ahead of the sale will start Thursday, individuals stated, asking not to be recognized due to the fact that the info isn’t public.
Opinion: Better infrastructure can help South Africa escape low growth
In this short article, Royal HaskoningDHV wise mobility director Bongani Mthombeni-Möller discusses the infrastructure obstacles facing South Africa and what can be done to resolve these for the benefit of the nation’s economy.
TFR sets March 20 closing date for tender seeking OEMs to step in to rehabilitate idle locos
Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) has actually set a closing date of March 20 for responses to a tender welcoming initial equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to step in to restore more than 160 Chinese-manufactured engines that run out service, owing to the unavailability of vital extra parts. The unavailability of engines has actually affected operation on passages used to export coal, manganese, chrome and magnetite, with the coal corridor having actually been particularly badly impacted with the number of operational engines having dropped by 33%, between the 2017/18 and 2020/21 fiscal years, a collapse that TFR itself refers to as “shocking”.
New drives added to extensive portfolio
Advanced engineering manufacturer Danfoss has successfully added its IC2 and IC7 drives, released in the final quarter of last year, to its existing VLT and VACON range of drives. The drives will be manufactured in China, Finland, Denmark and the US, depending on the configuration of the product, and will then be distributed to the African market through engineering solutions provider BMG’s network.
Mobility solutions highlighted at global event
Global technical devices, drive and braking systems maker Voith provided its solutions for the mobility shift in commercial vehicles at the IAA Transportation Expo held in Hannover, Germany, from September 20 to 25 in 2015. The options consist of Voith Electrical Drive System (VEDS), which are drive ideas efficiently developed for the operation of buses and sturdy trucks, along with its plug and drive H2 storage system, which is a modular overall system for durable industrial lorries with hydrogen drives.
African airline ranks high in the latest list of carriers with the youngest airliner fleets
An African airline has the fifth youngest fleet of airplane on the planet, air travel database and news company ch-aviation has actually reported, in its “World’s Youngest Aircraft Fleet 2023” award report, released on Tuesday. The report uses data that was valid on December 31 in 2015. Any operators with fewer than five airplane were excluded from the study. VIP-configured airplane were also left out from the survey. The African carrier is Uganda Airlines, whose airliners have a typical age of 3.01 years. The airline with the youngest fleet on the planet, therefore the winner of ch-aviation’s World’s Youngest Aircraft Fleet Award 2023, is Taiwan’s Starlux Airlines, with an average aircraft age of just 1.22 years. The other 3 airline companies in the top five are Saudi Arabian carrier flyadeal (second, with an average airplane age of 2.56 years), Canada’s Lynx Air (third, 2.9 years), and Chile’s SKY Airline (4th, 2.94 years).
Manufacturing begins on City of Johannesburg’s Red Fleet Manufacturing begins on City of Johannesburg’s Red Fleet
The City of Johannesburg this month launched manufacturing of the city’s specialised fire engines, or ‘Red Fleet’, at Marcé Fire Fighting Technology, in Centurion, with the signing of a contract finalised. Tasneem Bulbulia tells us more.
Air traffic control in Somali airspace has been restored, after a 30-year gap
The airspace over and around Somalia was reclassified as Class A at one minute past midnight on Thursday early morning. This marked the functional repair of air traffic control (ATC) services in Somalia and the surrounding airspace over the Indian Ocean– officially called the Mogadishu Flight Information Region (FIR)– for the first time in 30 years. Busy airways linking Africa south of Ethiopia to the Middle East and South Asia, and linking Europe with South Asia and the Indian Ocean islands, travel through the Mogadishu FIR. This development has been welcomed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which is the representative body of the international airline company market.
Port of Maputo achieves new handling record, sees soaring chrome throughput
The Port of Maputo achieved a new handling record in 2022, registering development of 20% over 2021. The overall volume handled in 2015 was 26.7-million lots, compared with 22.2-million tons in 2021..
Aviation group urges African airlines to consider the option of ‘wet-leasing’ aircraft
Major international aviation wet-leasing and charter services company Avion Express has highlighted the potential benefits to African airlines, recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic, of employing the option of wet-leasing airliners. Wet-leasing, more formally called aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance (ACMI) provision, involves leasing an airliner, plus both flight and cabin crew, with the lessor also responsible for maintenance and paying insurance. The lessee airline is responsible for …
Ethiopian Max crash report made false claims on plane, US says
Ethiopian investigators’ report into the Boeing 737 Max crash outside Addis Ababa in 2019 incorrectly declared the jetliner had an electrical failure, the US government said, in an extremely uncommon public counterclaim of the nation’s findings about the deadly accident. The US National Transportation Safety Board accused the Ethiopian Accident Investigation Bureau of making claims “unsupported by evidence” in conclusions belatedly released late in 2015.
Blasting to be done on N3 Camperdown overpass on Feb 8
Blasting will be carried out near the Camperdown Overpass Bridge to remove rock outcrops on February 8 at 15:00. This forms part of the ongoing N3 upgrades from Cato Ridge interchange to Dardanelles, the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) states. “Rock outcrops need to be gotten rid of through blasting to prepare for the building and construction of the stormwater system, as well as the pavement layers. Rolling closures will be utilized on the N3 in both instructions in between Umlaas road interchange and Cato Ridge interchange to minimise the delay of the traffic on the N3 during blasting,” says Sanral Eastern Region task supervisor Mohamed Parak.
Airlink to resume Madagascar flights
Southern African airline company Airlink prepares to reboot scheduled services between South Africa and Madagascar from January 30 following a practically 3 year suspension. The Johannesburg to Antananarivo service will reboot with a single weekly flight at 10:00 on Mondays, increasing to three flights weekly from February 14, with the same schedule being implemented on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.
IATA announces latest updates to its air transport industry manuals
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced that it has finished its yearly revision of its manuals for operations, ground handling and cargo in the air transport sector. IATA is the global representative body for the airline industry. The updating of the manuals displayed, the association noted, the sector’s determination to further improve safety, adopt more sustainable operations, enhance cargo handling, and enhance the experience of airline passengers. “Aviation is a unique industry with its global footprint covering operations from mega-hubs, through regional airports to small and even remote airfields,” pointed out IATA senior VP for Commercial Products and Services Frederic Leger. “Nevertheless, the same standards and procedures need to be applied across the globe, in order to maintain smooth operations and a high level of safety. The IATA manuals are the reference materials, accurately reflecting agreed global standards, which the industry abides by.”
TFR starts yearly maintenance on East London-Free State-Northern Cape railway line
Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) has begun with the annual upkeep shutdown of the Cape Corridor’s East London primary line, which will continue for seven days up until January 22 and see no trains running on the line. The maintenance is set to enhance the 629-km-long rail network covering the locations from East London, in the Eastern Cape, to Springfontein, in the Free State, in addition to from Springfontein to Noupoort, in the Northern Cape.
Joburg implementing short-term interventions to repair flood-damaged roads
The Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) has actually laid out short-term recovery interventions to fix Joburg’s flood-damaged roadways facilities. The city’s 7 local depots will be running at full capacity from January 16, with teams prioritising the flooding therapeutic work.
South Africa should ensure WEF discussions reinforce COP27 energy transition plan – BLSA
South Africa must make sure the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting conversation in Davos, Switzerland, this week enhances the country’s simply energy transition strategy, which it attains worldwide solidarity across business and political spheres to guarantee they become part of the task of decarbonising the country’s economy, while ensuring energy security and supporting development, said business lobby Business Leadership South Africa CEO Busi Mavuso. South Africa advanced plans for a Just Energy Transition Partnership with a number of industrialized nations to supply $8.5-billion to support the nation’s energy shift at the twenty-seventh United Nations Conference of the Parties in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, in November in 2015.
Major aircraft leasing company predicts air traffic to complete recovery from Covid this year
Ireland-based worldwide aircraft renting business Avolon (which has actually an owned, handled and committed fleet of 834 airplane) expected international air traffic to return to pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels by June this year. The forecast is included in a report launched by the company on Monday, entitled “2023 Outlook: Climb to Cruise”, which was co-authored by Avolon Chief Risk Officer Jim Morrison and its Counterparty Risk & & Sustainability head Rosemarie O’Leary. In 2015 saw global air passenger traffic recuperate by 70%, a development led by North America and Europe. This year, the report forecast, the recovery would be led by Asia, improved by China’s current resuming. Of total airline company capacity (in terms of seats) included this year, 50% would remain in Asia. Last year’s recovery brought airline companies practically back to success, after suffering total global losses of $180-billion in 2020 and 2021. This year, they were expected to achieve a total worldwide revenue of $4.7-billion.
Ride-hailing inDrive app will cover costs of users’ app data
Peer-to-peer ride-hailing platform inDrive says all inDrive application (app) users in South Africa can utilize the service without incurring mobile data costs, as the business will cover the cost for all mobile data that users take in when utilizing the app. “Owing to our collaboration with mobile operator MTN, we can supply people with the chance to utilize our service to the fullest, offer and receive the services they require at reasonable prices and not stress over requiring Wi-Fi to utilize it,” says inDrive service development representative Vincent Lilane.
TFR calls on emerging miners to apply for export manganese rail, port capacity
State-owned Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) has actually welcomed emerging miners who hold legitimate mining rights and have existing manganese mining operations to apply for two-million lots a year of export manganese capacity that it has offered. All applications will be assessed in line with Transnet’s requirements, as set out in the application procedure document, following the closing date of January 20, 2023.