Each standard is based on a set of 'best practice' rules to assist operators to comply with government legislation be it Road Traffic Law or AARTO

Regular readers of FleetWatch will be familiar with the concept of ‘self-regulation’ and the initiative known as RTMS (Road Transport Management System), implemented by both government and enterprise to primarily reduce road fatalities and road pavement destruction due to overloaded trucks. Since its inception in the timber industry some five years ago, RTMS (then called LAP, or Load Accreditation Programme) has gone from strength to strength as a viable self-regulation system, helping supply chains set new productivity and safety benchmarks. Paul Collings reports on RTMS in the coal and sugar industries.

Historically, South Africa’s coal and sugar industries have been plagued by inefficiencies in their supply chain, particularly involving truck transport of raw material to their processing plants, respectively, power stations and sugar mills. With operational inefficiencies increasingly challenging the ability of the national rail system to provide a reliable service over the last 20 years, trucks have been used to carry coal and sugarcane across public roads from mines and plantations. With very little regulation on load mass compliance and vehicle/driver fitness, extreme damage has occurred to our road pavements while our road fatality rate has soared to one of the worst in the world.

The introduction of the RTQS (Road Transport Quality System) in the late 1980s was an effort on the part of government to re- egulate the truck transport industry after the demise of the ‘permit system’ which effectively protected the business of freight-by- ail by offering only a select, closely monitored group of road hauliers the opportunity to supply cargo to the nation’s major industries.

Deregulation in the trucking industry helped transform road freight transport into a highly competitive sector, to the extent that trucks now carry as much as 83 percent of all freight moved within the country.

While the rules defining RTQS sought to improve road safety and productivity, they focused on the truck fleet owner, largely overlooking the responsibilities and accountabilities of the consignor and consignee.

By the turn of the century, with competition among transporters at an all-time high (rate wars and overloading being the order of the day), it was clear to both business and government that something had to be done to harmonise the legislation governing the entire supply chain into a seamless ‘loop of responsibility’ incorporating consignor, hauliers and consignee.

The sugar industry has set up an RTMS steering committee, creating a forum whereby relevant issues relating to that specific industry can be openly discussed and solutions sought. Andrew Crickmay

Establishing the rules

The process of implementing RTMS was initiated by the National Productivity Institute, Crickmay and Associates and the CSIR. Critical support to the initiative was given by the National Department of Transport (DoT), SANRAL (SA National Roads Agency), the Chamber of Mines, Forestry South Africa, the RFA, South African Cane Growers Association, South African Sugar Research Institute, Forestry Engineering SA and Eskom, who embraced the notion of self-regulation and the DoT has promulgated a set of standards that define the roles of hauliers, consignors and consignees.

According to Mbali Mahlangu of Crickmay and Associates, a leading supply chain consultancy playing a primary role in driving RTMS in the sugar and coal industries: “These new RTMS standards are approved by the South African National Standards (SANS) as a National Recommended Practice (ARP’S). The standards consist of the following three parts - Haulier Standards (ARP 0067- :2007); Consignee Standards (ARP 006- 3:2007) and Consignor Standards (ARP 067-2:2007).”

Each of these standards is based on a set of ‘best practice’ rules regarding overloading and road safety which assist transport operators, consignors and consignees to comply with government legislation, be that of the Road Traffic Act or the current AARTO laws.

Heading up the National RTMS Steering Committee is the CSIR’s Paul Nordengen, an expert on road infrastructure, overloading and general truck transport efficiency and safety. “The RTMS has a fiveyear strategy to become a nationally recognised self-regulating scheme for heavy vehicle transport, resulting in a safe, equitable and competitive heavy vehicle logistics value chain,” he says. In a nutshell, RTMS has a fourpronged mission

• to optimise loading

• improve road safety

• ensure driver and vehicle fitness

• improve productivity.

The sugar drive

“The sugar industry has set up an RTMS steering committee, creating a forum whereby relevant issues relating to that specific industry can be openly discussed and solutions sought. Monthly RTMS/ Self Regulation Reports are produced, which compliment the RTMS Standards and participants use them to monitor their overloading,” says Andrew Crickmay, managing director, Crickmay and Associates.

Playing an integral role in the rollout  of RTMS in the sugar industry (based largely in KwaZulu-Natal), is the province’s DoT manager of public and freight transport, Chris Stretch, who says: “RTMS has effectively turned the sugar industry’s transport supply chain around from an overloading and safety point of view. The Unitrans Amatikulu depot has 19 vehicles, for example, and only three percent of over 2 000 deliveries per month are overloaded. This is a remarkable statistic and not confined to this depot. RTMS requires an under-four percent compliance on overloading so this definitely shows that the system is working.”

Having recently received official RTMS accreditation at a function in Durban, Unitrans Supply Chain Solutions’ Alan Gordon says that despite the dramatic drop in overloading and the boost in fleet efficiency, RTMS gives his company a competitive edge and serves as an effective risk management tool.

Technology plays a vital role in the managing of RTMS and Crickmay and Associates customise vehicle scheduling systems that integrate with Fleet Management systems, generating data that comprehensively informs the RTMS process, from both a planning and reporting perspective.

“This data forms part of the RTMS Logistics Information Platform, a data warehouse that includes load mass specifications for every vehicle servicing both coal and sugar supply chains,” explains Crickmay. “This data ensures weighbridge personnel are able to control the loading process and ensure optimised legal loading before trucks leave the mines and mills.”

More importantly, the data puts supply chains in a position to look at productivity issues.

RTMS has effectively turned the sugar industry's transport supply chain around from an overloading and safety point of view. Chris Stretch Kwa-Zulu Natal, DoT

Coal success

The coal fields of Mpumalanga have been a hotbed of controversy for several years, due to the number of overloaded vehicles running through urban areas in the region, causing damage to road infrastructure.

The Chamber of Mines, in conjunction with Eskom and its transport division, Rotran, have been running RTMS as a pilot project for almost a year and are already seeing the benefits, says Crickmay, whose consultancy is providing support to the systems necessary to drive the project.

“The implementation of RTMS has been fundamentally supported by Eskom’s recent undertaking of implementing a Weighbridge Automation System, using Radio Frequency Identification Technology (RFID). Under this system, all vehicles transporting coal to various Eskom power stations are fitted with an RFID tag, which uniquely identify each vehicle,” explains Crickmay.

“These tags are then associated with specific coal and transport contracts. These report to a central information platform that can monitor compliance and help the Eskom Coal RTMS steering committee identify where changes in the overall supply chain need to be made.”

A number of key initiatives are underway at Eskom that will have a dramatic effect on supply chain efficiency in the future; all leveraging off the RTMS process, says Gerhard Marais, GM Rotran Coal operations. This sentiment is echoed by Ian Bird, a coal logistics consultant currently assisting Eskom’s Primary Energy Division.

“Eskom has to limit the impact of transport costs, starting with the preservation of life and road infrastructure through the elimination of overloading and speeding. This has been achieved. Our focus is now squarely on creating efficiencies. Some of these initiatives are showing fruit,” says Bird.

According to Marais, “Load accuracy has increased by some 30 percent and an emphasis is being placed on eliminating underloading. Through better vehicle selection, the average legal payload on vehicles delivering coal has increased by 12 percent. Speeding has been curtailed and the accident rate has dropped, although spikes in the fuel price still have a negative effect on driving style.”

Reaping the benefits

Apart from the immediate advantages of fuel savings, load optimisation and reductions in road damage, traffic fines and vehicle damage, RTMS accredited operators will also be eligible for reduced insurance premiums.

The CSIR’s Nordengen says:
“Participants will realise improved efficiency via the RTMS ‘weigh less’ programme which will see accredited operators being stopped less often at weighbridges and at road blocks. Driver performance will be enhanced and overall fairness in the industry will be boosted.”

Fewer trucks mean safer roads

An extension of the RTMS program is Performance Based Standards (PBS), a concept borrowed from Australia. The idea is to allow accredited RTMS operators the ability to challenge restrictive truck dimension legislation.

The thinking behind PBS is: “Do not tell us what a truck should look like, tell us how it must perform,” says Des Armstrong of Mondi. “Using this approach, four test vehicles in the timber industry operating under abnormal loads are currently operating in KwaZulu-Natal. The vehicles are safer than the law requires as they are far more stable. They damage the roads less due to the fact that they have more axles than normal vehicles and produce less carbon per ton of product moved while reducing overall operating costs.”

The most exciting benefit of RTMS accreditation will be the granting of a PBS permit/licence, which will allow accredited operators to use abnormal dimension vehicles in their day-to-day operations. Fewer vehicles carrying more payload more economically should act as an incentive for all truck transporters.

“In a time where limiting green house gas emissions is becoming a matter of survival, where roads are deteriorating and the cost of transport is putting industries at risk, we cannot approach logistics in the way we have always done,” concludes Crickmay.

The figures certainly prove the value of self-regulation. While the process may be in its infancy, it is surely just a matter of time before RTMS becomes an industry-wide standard.