THE DEFINITIVE TRUCKING SITE

October 2008

Long queues characterise (far left) coal trucking right now and they’re caused by any number of factors from weighbridge power failures to bad weather to colliery gate controllers running out of sign-in books.  The installation of RFID tagging systems at Eskom weighbridges will transform the management of coal fleets, making sure loads and scheduling are optimized, which will streamline the entire coal truck supply chain. Empowerment is a central tenet of Eskom’s coal supply tendering process. These drivers form part of a BEE operation called The Right Mix, which uses all the best technologies to run safely and efficiently.

With Eskom and government committed to reducing coal supply to power stations by truck, the question is – what future does the truck transport industry have in this sector? Managing part of  Eskom’s truck supply fleet is Rotran, a subsidiary of the utility and a dedicated trucking organisation tasked to streamline the flow of coal-laden trucks to power stations. Paul Collings spoke to its general manager, operations and brokerage, Gerhard Marais, to get a better understanding of how ‘rolling iron’ in the form of trucks will help South Africa sort out its power grid problems. 

In order to understand the role trucks play in the electricity supply chain, Marais states: “All Eskom’s coal-fired power stations are built close to the mines from where their coal is supplied. The exception to this rule is Majuba Power Station near Amersfoort. Due to geological problems that were not obvious at first, the coalfields that would have constituted Majuba’s colliery could not be mined economically and the mine had to be closed. For this reason, Majuba receives its coal by road and rail from the coalfields of the Mpumalanga Highveld. 

“Tutuka Power Station near Standerton has a so-called tied colliery, but the mine cannot meet the demand of the power station and additional coal sources are needed. Increased production means more coal, and the only way for us to immediately increase coal delivery to the stations was to import by road, using trucks.” 

Managing rigs 
Transport organisations carrying coal to Eskom power stations can be divided into two distinct groups, namely ‘free-on-truck’ (FoT) and ‘delivered coal’ (DC), explains Marais. 

“FoT are truck transporters financed, managed and paid by Eskom and comprise one third of all trucks carrying coal to power stations. Contracts are awarded to BEE trucking operations and are governed by stringent quality control processes which are monitored by Rotran. Delivered Coal operators make up two thirds of the truck supply chain and are contracted by the mines to supply coal to Eskom and receive payment from the respective mining houses.” 

The issue of quality control in coal supply by truck is at the epicenter of an ongoing and complex problem that encompasses a host of challenges including road safety/damage, overload control, the sustainability of the environment (both natural and commercial), as well as ongoing improvements in the efficiency of the coal supply chain to the 12 power stations owned by Eskom. 

Multimodal shifts
The Mpumalanga Highveld is the hub of South Africa’s electricity generation, home to nine of the 12 power stations positioned close to the coal fields that feed them. In a perfect world, coal could be delivered to these power stations by conveyor belt only, a short trip from coal mine to furnace. Problems, however, are never far from the perfect plan and Eskom has had its fair share of these. 

“Conveyor belt systems are the best option to move coal to power stations but it would be foolhardy to rely solely on their capability. Rail is the second-best option and has traditionally been the back-up system for Eskom. However, some of the coal fields in Mpumalanga upon which power stations have been built have proven difficult to mine as well as meet the quality specifications, and this has necessitated the importation of coal from mines further afield, and with rail infrastructures not in place to do this, trucks are the only option,” explains Marais. 

With the bulk of rail capacity focused on export coal (from Mpumalanga to Richards Bay), Eskom has to rely on truck transport to keep its coal reserves at optimum levels. Which brings us to the prickly question of “why the loadshedding?” 

“The debate over the power crisis has been well publicized and one can point fingers at a number of causes for the shortfall in coal supply, be it negligence, wet coal or failures in rail and truck transport,” Marais says. “The point is, Eskom has done a huge amount to top up its stocks over the last ten months (from around a three-day buffer to over 25 days), an exercise that really is all about trucks.” 

Currently (no pun intended), Eskom needs about 12 million tons of coal per month and the status quo regarding modal conveyance is constantly changing. “At present, 61 percent of coal is delivered by conveyor, with rail only carrying 3.6 percent. Trucks bring in 35.4 percent,” says Marais. “A new rail line is being built from Ermelo to Majuba power station so this will alter the split considerably come 2010.” 

While coal trucks will always play a role in the electricity supply chain, Eskom plans to reduce truck transport to a minimum, explains Marais. “The costs and risks involved in moving coal by road are too onerous and Eskom wants to bring the proportion down to about five percent by 2018. Underpinning this process will be the roll-out of the RTMS (Road Transport Management System) where all truck contractors and mining houses will be governed by selfregulation standards that encompass vehicle and driver wellness, road safety, overload control and strict reporting criteria.”

Rotran is Eskom’s vehicle management division, tasked to ensure unsafe coal trucking is clamped down on, hard!

Taming the frontier
In early August 2008, a widely publicised 24hour shutdown of trucking operations moving coal to Eskom power stations gave credence to the utility’s concern for public safety. “Despite the urgent need to increase stockpiles, there is a greater need for drivers to behave responsibly on the road and the shutdown was intended to allow drivers and operators to reflect on road safety and to train drivers on the essential truck safety issues.” 

In the four weeks prior to the shutdown, the roads between Mpumalanga’s collieries and power stations saw coal truck-related accidents claim 16 lives. “There are over 2 000 coal trucks each doing around four trips a day on the Highveld,” Marais says. “This volume of traffic operates on extremely poor road surfaces that are shared with motorists. Coal trucks are also moving through urban areas like Ermelo and Bethal. The risks involved are high, which is why Rotran has the mandate to monitor and action offending FoT vehicles.” 

The methods Rotran uses to manage the FoT fleet are both manual and electronic. “All FoT drivers have a Rotran ‘safety pack’ which guides them on issues such as safety, fatigue and health. About two thirds of the fleet are equipped with Fleet Management systems and are monitored via their control centre in Bethal. Rotran has a mobile monitoring crew using some 100 monitoring vehicles to monitor the FoT fleet as it traverses the roadways. Warnings are issued for any infringements of contractual obligations regarding road safety and could result in contract termination.” adds Marais. 

Eskom is also implementing RTMS to ensure overloading does not occur and that coal trucks do not cause bottlenecks on the road, at collieries and at power stations. “Weighbridges and trucks are being fitted with RFID tags (radio frequency identification devices) to ensure correct loading according to stipulated (benchmarked) vehicle carrying capacity. Operators will be obliged to abide by the ten RTMS rules which cover everything from optimal loading to driver and vehicle fitness, as well as road safety,” says Marais. 

The major weakness in the supply chain right now lies with the loaders at collieries, says Marais. “More training is needed to ensure that the guys loading coal with front-end loaders know how much to load, that the load is correctly checked before it leaves the mine via suitable weighbridge equipment and that equipment is on hand at the weighbridge to extract or add coal  should the load not meet the benchmark mass.” 

Once Eskom enforces consignor regulations on its suppliers (coal mines), problems arising from overloading, unroadworthy vehicles and unfit drivers should diminish rapidly. “A strong partnership has to be created between mining operations, transporters, Eskom and government to ensure ongoing improvements in the coal by road supply chain. Trucks will always play a part in powering our electricity grid. By streamlining the way we manage them will mean more coal to power stations using fewer trucks. This will not only help save our roads, but the environment and the lives of other road users too,” concludes Marais. 

Rotran’s Gerhard Marais believes trucks will always play an integral part in the coal to power station supply chain, despite recent investments in rail line infrastructure upgrades.