NRZ WITNESSES INCREASE IN FREIGHT VOLUMES IN FIRST THREE MONTHS OF INTERIM SOLUTION EQUIPMENT OPERATION
The National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) is pleased to announce that the Interim Solution Equipment being leased from Transnet has made a positive impact on the organisation’s freight volumes in the first three months of operation.
The organisation has been experiencing a steady increase in its cargo movement since the deployment of Interim Solution Equipment at the beginning of April 2018.
As part of the NRZ $400 million recapitalisation deal with the Diaspora Infrastructure Development Group (DIDG) /Transnet Consortium, the NRZ is leasing equipment from Transnet as a stop gap measure to cover resource constraints while awaiting finalisation of the recapitalisation agreement which will see the organisation receiving new equipment of its own.
The Interim Solution Equipment arrived in February but the NRZ only started using it in April as some formalities had to be completed first.
In the three months from April to June that the Interim Solution Equipment has been in operation, the NRZ has moved 856 476 tonnes of cargo, an increase of 13.5 percent from the same period last year when 754 404 tonnes were moved.
During the first month of the interim solution equipment’s operation in April, freight volumes went up by 18.4 percent to 215 063 tonnes from 181 585 tonnes carried in March.
In May, the company moved 305 345 tonnes, an increase of 41.9 percent from the previous month.
In June freight volumes rose by 10 percent to 336 068 tonnes.
The NRZ is leasing nine class 34 locomotives, four class 43 locomotives and 200 wagons as well as 34 passenger coaches (of which only seven have been received so far).
The wagons were put to dedicated use for Chrome exports from the Zimbabwe Iron and Mining Company (Zimasco) Kildonan in Mashonaland Central and Zimasco Kwekwe to Maputo.
The first batch of leased equipment was deployed for NRZ operations on March 29, 2018 after reaching an agreement on the commercial terms with Transnet and clearing the equipment with ZIMRA.
NRZ is embarking on a $400 million recapitalisation project with DIDG/Transnet Consortium under which it will acquire rolling stock, signalling equipment and Information Communication Technology equipment to increase capacity utilisation.
The NRZ system has a design capacity to move over 18 million tonnes of freight a year but is currently moving just over 3 million tonnes and the recapitalisation programme is expected to see a further gradual and sustained increase in freight volumes.