MOMBASA, KENYA
Regional rail operator, Rift Valley Railways has partnered with Roofing Rolling Mills, a major Kampala based steel manufacturer, to develop a transport innovation that will see the ferrying of steel by train, easing the burden of heavy steel transportation on the roads.
RVR’s group CEO Darlan de David explained that this had been made possible after RVR’s engineers developed specially adapted wagons which firmly secure large steel coils during transit to destinations in Kenya or 1,300km away in Kampala. “Each trainload using this technology carries an average of 1,000 tonnes of steel, an equivalent of 50 truckloads. This means based on current volumes we’re taking about 400 heavy lorries off the roads per month”, De David said.
He said this was a timely development that would serve the thriving construction industry across East Africa which has seen a surge in steel imports. “Thisinnovation has the further social and economic benefit of decongesting roads and reducing the negative environmental impact from dust and fuel emissions, particularly on the busy northern corridor,” he added.
Oliver Lalani, Roofings Rolling Mills’ executive director said, “This technical solution enables RVR to deliver large quantities of heavy steel to us in a single shipment which eases our logistical planning”. He said this was a lot more efficient than having many trucks deliver small quantities at the factory intermittently. Lalani said the Roofings’ $125 million Kampala factory relied on a steady supply of large volumes of raw material most of which comes from halfway across the world to meet the burgeoning demand in the region.
“With RVR’s technical support we are now able to import even heavier steel coils which improves our productivity while reducing our transportation costs”, he observed. Under RVR’s sh25 billion capex investment programme launched in January 2012, the company has to date completed the rehabilitation of 73 kilometres of railway track between Mombasa and Nairobi.
Along with installation of GPS-based operating technology on all trains, this infrastructure project helped cut cargo transit times between the two cities by six hours. RVR rebuilt nine crumbling culverts between Jinja and Busembatia allowing the direct passage of heavy trains to Uganda and rebuilt the 500km Tororo-Gulu line that had been in disuse for 20 years. The transport and logistics company will significantly boost its cargo-carrying capacity this year by acquiring 20 General Electric locomotives from the US and refurbishing more locally.
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