During 2009, road transport was used on an ad hoc basis
whenever TFR experienced a major disruption. These ad hoc
loads came at a very high rand/ton rate; almost double the rate
per ton of rail transport. As its road transport requirements
were infrequent, these rates had to be accepted because the
firm was not in a position to negotiate better rates with the
road transport contractors. However, during 2010, a strategic
decision was made to transport some of the mining extract by
road to ensure continued supply to its production facility. This
decision placed the firm in an improved position to negotiate
better rand/ton rates. The fixed number of trucks required
on a continuous basis placed the road transport operators in
a better position to compete with rail transport. Interestingly,
the rail transport costs charged by TFR increased on a rand/
ton basis, whilst the road transport costs that were negotiated
with the transport contractors came down between 2009 and
2010 and remained relatively unchanged during 2011 and
2012. Figure 6 illustrates the variance between road and rail
rate per ton for the period 2006–2009.