Food aid supply won't be derailed

South African railway company Spoornet has dismissed reports that it does not have the capacity to meet its commitments to transport urgent food aid to countries in the southern African region. Spoornet's communications officer Mike Asefovitz told IRIN on Wednesday that recent reports suggesting that the state-run operator was unable to meet demand for rail transportation of relief food were incorrect. According to the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) and Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) about 14 million people face hunger in Angola, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Lesotho and Swaziland. "They [reports] quote that 1.2 million mt of food aid is needed immediately, we don't dispute this figure. But we've only received orders from January to June this year that amounted 138,000 mt - all of which has been executed," said Asefovitz. Although there had been many enquiries from traders, there had been few committed orders. Spoornet could not plan for grain deliveries for which no orders were placed, he added. South African newspaper the Daily News reported that "the number of trains is expected to be cut drastically to save the cost of maintaining the ageing fleet" and that this would have a disastrous affect on the food aid pipeline. Asefovitz said: "If called upon Spoornet will do all in its power within its defined constraints to assist in ensuring the transportation of maize to the famine hit regions of Southern Africa. This we will do in close cooperation with our over-border railway partners." He said the major hurdle to transporting food aid was not a lack of capacity or rolling stock. "The problem in the industry is one of fragmentation, the maize market in South Africa is deregulated and with this has come fragmentation. This causes logistical problems for Spoornet, as we are now faced with more pick-up points to build block loads [for trains], as you are not going to run a train with just three wagons, you need at least 40 wagons," said Asefovitz. This had led to a longer turnaround time for the rail wagons. "In South Africa you're looking at 14 days, and no company can afford that," the spokesman said. Spoornet had to "employ buffer stock for emergencies", to compensate for the long turnaround time of existing rolling stock. "Any efficient operation will always strive to match its resources and demand. We need forward planning and for that we need committed orders, to maximise the utilisation of our resources," he noted. In terms of railway infrastructure in the region, one of the few significant problems Spoornet encountered was in Mozambique and Malawi. "They can't handle the bulk maize, all their stuff has to be bagged, it's not our responsibility but it's a time consuming effort in terms of loading and off-loading ... this obviously translates to longer turnaround times," Asefovitz said. He added that there had been good cooperation between the neighbouring railways.