‘Dangerous spikes alert! Watch out for these nearly invisible spikes set by robbers near Serule, Botswana, on the way to Francistown. They’re hardly visible, you might not notice them until it’s too late. Stay vigilant and travel safe!’ This is but one recent post on an unofficial Facebook page for South African truckers that offers some insight into truckers’ daily lives.

With the collapse of South Africa’s rail infrastructure, truckers have become the lifeblood of the economy. According to figures from the Department of Transport, about one-third of long-distance freight moved from rail to road between 2017 and 2023.

Research consultancy In On Africa’s 2024 Changing Lanes report – which explores South Africa’s transport and logistics industry – paints a bleak picture of the impact of Transnet’s collapse on South Africa’s road freight industry. It estimates the overall cost at US$54.6 million a day in economic output, equivalent to 4.9% of annual GDP or US$19.2 billion in 2023.

Then there are the ongoing threats to truckers’ safety. ‘Theft of goods and hijacking of vehicles is common, both at the hands of petty criminals and more organised mafias who target high-value cargo like copper and fuel. Besides theft, transporters sometimes also must contend with the wholesale destruction of trucks and warehousing facilities during instances of civil unrest, which are becoming statistically more common,’ the report states.

Penwell Lunga, chair of the Road Freight Association, brought home the point at the industry’s annual conference last year. ‘I urge the transport industry to reflect on the resilience of truckers. Every day, remember that South Africa relies on trucks because without them, South Africa stops’.

South Africa’s truck population in 2023 was about 390 000 – half of them in Gauteng, according to the Changing Lanes report.

‘Simply adding more trucks to a fleet is no longer enough. Transport operators need to increase efficiencies too,’ Scania Southern Africa MD Erik Bergvall writes in Southern Africa’s Freight News. ‘Technology is playing a pivotal role in supporting transport companies to adapt and thrive. The potential for fleets to harness intelligent insights from diverse data sources is revolutionising fleet management. Real-time tracking, data analytics and predictive modelling are enabling transport operators to respond efficiently to disruptions, while staying ahead of the curve.’

The Changing Lanes report says South Africa’s telematics industry grew out of the country’s persistent security challenges, which started in the 1990s. ‘Since then, the country has seen the development of a host of home-grown vehicle tracking companies, including Altech Netstar, Cartrack, Tracker, and MiX Telematics. Most of them have branched out into fleet management and goods consignment tracking in some form.’

A 2024 Research and Marketing report predicts the fleet management market will grow at a CAGR of 10.3% from about 2.3 million units at the end of 2023 to reach 3.8 million units by 2028. It expects fleet management solutions will be used by 70% of fleet vehicles 2028, up from 47.3% in 2023.

The advent of AI and internet of things (AIoT) technology is driving further innovation in telematics. In October, global fleet management solutions provider Powerfleet, which merged with MiX Telematics last year, launched its unified operations hub in La Lucia, KwaZulu-Natal, which integrates legacy MiX Telematics technology with new AIoT technologies. The hub offers real-time monitoring, proactive safety measures and advanced risk management solutions.

‘The real-time capabilities of AIoT will reshape how fleets operate, and the Unity Operations Centre will play a critical role in driving operational efficiency and safety improvements for our customers,’ says Powerfleet Africa MD Brendan Horan.

The technologies include an intelligent driver-assistance system that enhances safety by using real-time analytics and feedback, helping prevent crashes before they happen; a system that proactively prevents fuel siphoning and theft; and a warehouse solution to streamline operations through intelligent tracking and management systems.

Some months earlier Netstar launched its Global Fleet Bureau in April 2024, also featuring a combo of AIoT technologies and telemetric solutions. The centre is expected to improve responsiveness by 90%, reduce false positive alerts by 50% and enable quicker dispatch response.

‘If you’re behind the steering wheel of an 18-wheeler weighing a total of 40 tons, you’re in charge of millions of rands in vehicles and cargo, and even a small error in judgement or slight slowing down of reaction time can come at a terrible cost,’ says Mark Forbes, GM of Netstar’s Fleet Bureau Services.

‘Tired drivers are a danger both to themselves and to others, so an AI-powered camera that looks at the face of a truck driver is effectively looking out for everyone. The beauty of AI is that the more the camera is used, the more it learns what to look for. Once the camera picks up tell-tale signs of fatigue, it relays a message both to the driver and to our Global Fleet Bureau in Midrand, which is active 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.’

Targeting individual users and small- to medium-sized businesses, Netstar’s MyNetstar 2.0 app was, meanwhile, named the most innovative app at the 2024 New Generation Awards in September. The app allows users to monitor and manage their vehicles seamlessly, with real-time vehicle tracking, advanced driver behaviour analytics and smart alerts.

Preserving the safety of drivers – and their cargo – is but one of the challenges facing the road freight industry. With more trucks on South Africa’s roads, carrying greater loads more frequently, the state of the roads is suffering.

Transport Minister Barbara Creecy recently told the Western Cape provincial parliament that the South African National Roads Agency, which manages 4% of South Africa’s road network of 750 000 km, required more than ZAR300 billion for design and construction work on about 1 400 projects.

A potential game changer for road maintenance is being put through its paces in Mpumalanga, one of the regions most affected by the spike in truck numbers on the road. Its digital maintenance-management platform, launched in October, enables authorities to plan, track and report back on road projects in real-time. It also features a public portal, allowing road users to report on issues such as pot holes.

‘The challenge is that Mpumalanga’s road network is highly trafficked with heavy loads. There is a lot of mining activity, so the road network takes a lot of punishment from haul trucks in particular,’ says Chris von Holdt, director at engineering consultancy Zutari.

‘It is a substantial and important task, involving 28 call centres and several hundred people working daily on maintenance. The goal is to ensure this effort is carried out in the most co-ordinated and structured way possible,’ he says.

More trucks on South Africa’s roads has also inevitably led to an increase in CO₂ emissions. While government’s Freight Logistics Roadmap envisages the rehabilitation of Transnet will drive freight’s move back to rail from roads, thus reducing CO₂ emissions, improvements in electric vehicle (EV) technology also provides an answer.

‘Every day, 8 756 trucks travel on the N3 between Durban and Johannesburg, using over 658 million litres of fuel at an import cost of ZAR8 billion, emitting 1 781 256 762 kg of CO₂ emissions per year,’ according to Joubert Roux, co-founder of Zero Carbon Charge, which is leading a drive to instal solar-powered EV charging stations around South Africa.

‘Replacing these fuel-powered trucks with electric models will save 670 kg of CO₂ emissions per truck per day, significantly reducing our country’s reliance on expensive dirty fossil fuel imports.’

Subsidiary Zero Carbon Logistics is creating a network of 120 solar-powered charging stations for electric trucks, with the first six – along the N3 – to be operational by 2027.

Following Daimler Trucks’ launch of its first electric trucks in South Africa in mid-2024, local logistics company Bakers introduced its first EVs into its fleet of 1 000 trucks – Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz eActros 300l 4X2 model and Mercedes-Benz eSprinter.

Working with Stellenbosch-based EV-charging and software company Zimi Charge to demonstrate the feasibility of using EVs in a large-scale operation, Bakers has installed a ‘lightning-fast’ 120 kW Zimi DC charger at its Midrand depot.

‘With the evidence now in place, they are working with us [Zimi] to determine the best approach for transitioning a large portion of their fleet to electric in stages, where it makes sense,’ says Zimi CEO Michael Maas. ‘The savings so far have been promising.’

Speaking at a recent transport conference, Creecy predicted that ‘in this next decade, transport will be revolutionised by an acceleration of digital technology and new inventions powered by renewable energy’. The journey to a safer, more efficient road freight industry has already begun.

By Robyn Leary
Images: Freepik, iStock