The agreement takes the total number of locomotives Transnet has bought from the manufacturer to 143. The locomotives are to be deployed on Transnet Freight Rail's various lines throughout the country especially, the general freight business.
The C30ACi is the first AC diesel electric locomotive to be introduced in sub-Saharan Africa. These locomotives, which will be used to haul freight and coal, will decrease life-cycle costs, improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions.
Commenting on the purchase, Molefe says, "The acquisition of these locomotives is part of our fleet renewal programme - a key element of our R110 billion 5-year capital investment programme. Improving the average age of our assets is crucial in our efforts to improve our reliability, efficiency and our ultimate goal of running a scheduled railway."
Minister Gigaba added, "This purchase signifies our commitment to improving efficiency on the railways and therefore strengthening South Africa's logistics chain - the backbone of our economy. Crucially, this agreement and its predecessor have confirmed Transnet as a bellwether in our efforts to use the different fleet renewal programmes, especially by state-owned entities, to boost our manufacturing, engineering and development of local industries."
Encouragingly, and in line with Transnet's continued commitment to using its rolling 5-year capital investment programme to meet the objectives of the Competitive Supplier Development Programme (CSDP), GE committed to stringent localisation, industrialisation, skills development, job creation/preservation and technology and intellectual property requirements.
CSDP, which constitutes just over 65% of the value of the latest purchase, building on the 52% achieved in the previous contract, is a government initiative, pioneered by the Department of Public Enterprises, to encourage localisation of manufacturing, procurement from local suppliers, employment and skills development.
"Transnet is exploring various funding solutions to raise funding for the batch of 43 locomotives. These will include the possible utilisation of credit support from US Exim Bank, an export credit agency, in line with our strategy of diversifying sources of funding," concludes Molefe.
