THE DEFINITIVE TRUCKING SITE

October 2008

	The backbone of the coal-by-truck supply chain is  the 6x4 interlink side-tipper, a ‘eureka’ model for trailer builders

While Eskom battles to ensure reliable energy supply to the nation, trucks are the only viable transport mode able to help the utility achieve its goals right now.

It wasn’t until January this year when Eskom introduced power cuts across the country that most South Africans realised just how important coal is to them. Without it, electricity cannot be produced and we all know what happens when the ‘lights go out’. 

The reasons behind Eskom’s outages and ‘load-shedding’ exercises are multifold but to its credit, the stateowned utility was able to ramp up its capacity over the winter months of 2008 and thankfully, we all enjoyed a relatively ‘heated’ winter. 

What made this  possible is a massive logistics programme involving trucks, new rail-line construction projects, the de-mothballing of old power stations and ongoing improvements in coal transport management. Behind the media hype and public outcries is an integrated process involving a wide spectrum of stakeholders in the electricity supply chain, all working together to ensure reliable and safe delivery of power to South African homes and businesses. 

In conjunction with government departments, mining houses, transport operators, roads and law enforcement agencies and private consultancies, Eskom is making up for lost time, rolling out the largest road-going transport project in the world. It’s a monumental task and its hub is Mpumalanga, where rich deposits of coal are mined to feed the fuel-hungry power stations situated close-by. 

As it happens, this supply chain shares the same turf as eco-sensitive wetlands, cultural heritage sites and sleepy platteland  towns, all connected by a road network that is breaking up under the stress of the sheer number of lorries carrying the black ore to the ‘hungry beast’. 

Paul Collings visits the Mpumalanga Highveld to tap into what may well be this country’s most important story right now…