Limpopo Business 2016-17 edition

OVERVIEW
to port undamaged. Grindrod has
a Perishable Cargo division which
specialises in transporting cargo
by air.
The large national logistics
company Value Group has only
four major regional depots outside
of Gauteng: in Cape Town,
Durban, Nelspruit and Polokwane.
This illustrates the importance
of the Limpopo Province and
its capital city in South Africa’s
logistics chain.
Logistics giant Imperial
Logistics Southern Africa has 70
companies in its group structure,
including Kobus Minaar Transport,
a concern that began in Tzaneen
transporting fruit and vegetables.
Other active companies
in Limpopo include Dawn Wing Logistics, Kargo, F&R Logistics and
Aramex SA.
Outside of Polokwane, the towns of Tzaneen, Lephalale, Burgersfort
and Musina (a border post with Zimbabwe) are all important in the
field of logistics.
There has been interest for some years in increasing rail volumes out
of the coal-rich Waterberg area (TFR is conducting a feasibility study
into building a major new rail link) but depressed commodity prices
worldwide will make it more difficult to get this project up and running
in the near future. An extension of 464km would cost about R37-billion,
but it is possible that TFR will look for private partners to invest in the
project. If more coal mines are developed then capacity could be
ramped up in stages from the current four-million tons-per-year to
around 80-million tons, which would all be delivered to Richards Bay
via the line through Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal. Eskom’s huge
new power station in western Limpopo (Medupi) will need massive
supplies of coal but is experiencing long delays in construction.
The N1 highway (“The Road to the North”) is an incredibly busy and
sometimes overcrowded road, and growing mining operations are
putting pressure on secondary routes throughout the province, which
55 LIMPOPO BUSINESS 2016/17