South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for urgent action to address the country’s logistics backlog, which continues to undermine economic growth.
The president stated this when he hosted a virtual meeting with chief executives from key export sectors including mining and minerals, agriculture, forestry, automotive and freight forwarding industries.
During the meeting, President Ramaphosa acknowledged the challenges facing the country’s logistics system and directed Transnet, the Johannesburg-based rail, port and pipeline company, to swiftly implement reforms to turn around the crisis.
He also welcomed proposals presented during the virtual interaction to improve the state of domestic rail and ports.
“The decline in our logistics system is of great concern to us. We are determined to address the bottlenecks and obstacles that are hindering the efficient movement of goods,” President Ramaphosa said.
The president’s interaction with the executives followed a meeting he had with Transnet’s top executives on March 28 to discuss the challenges facing the logistics system, including the declining performance of the freight rail network.
In the coming weeks, the government is expected to announce a set of measures to add impetus to the work underway to improve rail and port efficiency.
