Business group Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) has written to Transport minister Fikile Mbalula requesting he makes changes to South Africa’s regulations around the transportation of logistics containers. According to BUSA, Regulation 224 (b) of the National Road Traffic Act currently prohibits the transportation of high cube containers on South African roads. “High cube containers constitute the overwhelming majority of containers currently manufactured and transported internationally – including in neighbouring states,” it said. “However, the combined height of a vehicle transporting a high cube container is currently 4.6 metres – 300mm above the legal limit.” Despite several years of industry engaging the Department of Transport on the matter, as well as moratoriums being issued, no progress has yet been forthcoming on fundamentally resolving the issue, the group said. “This regulatory anomaly puts South Africa’s trade and logistics regime out of step with international and regional realities and undermines the ease of doing business. BUSA is therefore calling on the Minister of Transport to urgently review the applicable regulation to permit the transportation of high cube containers on South African roads.” In view of South Africa’s sub-optimal levels of economic growth, investment, and employment, BUSA said that South Africa can ill afford such costly and time-consuming regulation of a sector so critical to the operations of a modern economy. Freight and logistics businesses in South Africa were particularly hard hit in 2021, due to ongoing global supply-chain and logistics issues. This was compounded by widespread opportunistic looting in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal which had a significant impact on business in the sector as billions rands in stock and property was destroyed, and key transportation routes were blocked. Discuss some of the key transport regulations mentioned in the above article.

ENGR.ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
14th Edition
ISBN:9780190931919
Author:NEWNAN
Publisher:NEWNAN
Chapter1: Making Economics Decisions
Section: Chapter Questions
Problem 1QTC
icon
Related questions
Question

Business group Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) has written to Transport minister Fikile Mbalula requesting he makes changes to South Africa’s regulations around the transportation of logistics containers. According to BUSA, Regulation 224 (b) of the National Road Traffic Act currently prohibits the transportation of high cube containers on South African roads. “High cube containers constitute the overwhelming majority of containers currently manufactured and transported internationally – including in neighbouring states,” it said. “However, the combined height of a vehicle transporting a high cube container is currently 4.6 metres – 300mm above the legal limit.” Despite several years of industry engaging the Department of Transport on the matter, as well as moratoriums being issued, no progress has yet been forthcoming on fundamentally resolving the issue, the group said. “This regulatory anomaly puts South Africa’s trade and logistics regime out of step with international and regional realities and undermines the ease of doing business. BUSA is therefore calling on the Minister of Transport to urgently review the applicable regulation to permit the transportation of high cube containers on South African roads.” In view of South Africa’s sub-optimal levels of economic growth, investment, and employment, BUSA said that South Africa can ill afford such costly and time-consuming regulation of a sector so critical to the operations of a modern economy. Freight and logistics businesses in South Africa were particularly hard hit in 2021, due to ongoing global supply-chain and logistics issues. This was compounded by widespread opportunistic looting in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal which had a significant impact on business in the sector as billions rands in stock and property was destroyed, and key transportation routes were blocked.

Discuss some of the key transport regulations mentioned in the above article.

Expert Solution
steps

Step by step

Solved in 2 steps

Blurred answer
Knowledge Booster
Antitrust Law
Learn more about
Need a deep-dive on the concept behind this application? Look no further. Learn more about this topic, economics and related others by exploring similar questions and additional content below.
Similar questions
Recommended textbooks for you
ENGR.ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
ENGR.ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
Economics
ISBN:
9780190931919
Author:
NEWNAN
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Principles of Economics (12th Edition)
Principles of Economics (12th Edition)
Economics
ISBN:
9780134078779
Author:
Karl E. Case, Ray C. Fair, Sharon E. Oster
Publisher:
PEARSON
Engineering Economy (17th Edition)
Engineering Economy (17th Edition)
Economics
ISBN:
9780134870069
Author:
William G. Sullivan, Elin M. Wicks, C. Patrick Koelling
Publisher:
PEARSON
Principles of Economics (MindTap Course List)
Principles of Economics (MindTap Course List)
Economics
ISBN:
9781305585126
Author:
N. Gregory Mankiw
Publisher:
Cengage Learning
Managerial Economics: A Problem Solving Approach
Managerial Economics: A Problem Solving Approach
Economics
ISBN:
9781337106665
Author:
Luke M. Froeb, Brian T. McCann, Michael R. Ward, Mike Shor
Publisher:
Cengage Learning
Managerial Economics & Business Strategy (Mcgraw-…
Managerial Economics & Business Strategy (Mcgraw-…
Economics
ISBN:
9781259290619
Author:
Michael Baye, Jeff Prince
Publisher:
McGraw-Hill Education