Rail transport refers to the transportation of various commodities, goods and services traded as cargo and freight within South Africa and out of South Africa for export to the other Southern African communities (SADC region), the rest of Africa and other continents of the world. It also refers to the imports into South Africa from the regions mentioned. Competitiveness relates to a country or company’s available resources and supporting policies and regulations in place which allow them to compete and do business locally, internationally and globally while improving the country’s economy and the company’s profitability. There are different criteria that can be used to determine the level of competitiveness, depending on each company or country’s capabilities. In the past years, the progress and development of the South African rail industry has been neglected and this has resulted in the rail transportation not being used. Railway line maintenance has become a challenge and service delivery is below customer expectations. Road transport has better availability and reliability, which has led companies to prefer road transport for freight. The main objective of this study is to reach a detailed understanding of the views of freight rail transport consumers and the impact of rail transport on the economic competitiveness of South Africa. Another important objective is to present the study in a format that is easily understandable. The approach adopted for this study is quantitative and uses a survey research questionnaire which was distributed to freight rail transport customers and providers. The data collected from the questionnaire was submitted to a statistical consultant service at North-West University. The statistical consultant analysed the data using the SPSS statistics computer programme to arrive at the results presented in this study. The overall findings from this study are that companies that use roads to transport freight do so because of the unavailability and unreliability of the freight rail transport provider Transnet Freight Rail and that these companies opt for road transport because they use a ‘just in time’ (JIT) system whereby a small quantity of stock is transported continuously which Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) does not accommodate. These factors have resulted in TFR’s poor service delivery. Therefore, a market demand strategy has been initiated by TFR to improve the performance of the company. It is important to note here that freight rail transport should concentrate on improving service delivery and not only on increasing capacity. The research participants indicated that the TFR objective to move freight back to rail could be accomplished. This will lessen the burden and damage to South African roads and reduce traffic congestion and accidents caused by trucks on the roads. It will also increase employment opportunities and the country’s economic competitiveness while reducing transport costs. All these aspects will make a significant impact on the economy of the country. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Rail transport refers to the transportation of various commodities, goods and services traded as cargo and freight within South Africa and out of South Africa for export to the other Southern African communities (SADC region), the rest of Africa and other continents of the world. It also refers to the imports into South Africa from the regions mentioned. Competitiveness relates to a country or company’s available resources and supporting policies and regulations in place which allow them to compete and do business locally, internationally and globally while improving the country’s economy and the company’s profitability. There are different criteria that can be used to determine the level of competitiveness, depending on each company or country’s capabilities. In the past years, the progress and development of the South African rail industry has been neglected and this has resulted in the rail transportation not being used. Railway line maintenance has become a challenge and service delivery is below customer expectations. Road transport has better availability and reliability, which has led companies to prefer road transport for freight. The main objective of this study is to reach a detailed understanding of the views of freight rail transport consumers and the impact of rail transport on the economic competitiveness of South Africa. Another important objective is to present the study in a format that is easily understandable. The approach adopted for this study is quantitative and uses a survey research questionnaire which was distributed to freight rail transport customers and providers. The data collected from the questionnaire was submitted to a statistical consultant service at North-West University. The statistical consultant analysed the data using the SPSS statistics computer programme to arrive at the results presented in this study. The overall findings from this study are that companies that use roads to transport freight do so because of the unavailability and unreliability of the freight rail transport provider Transnet Freight Rail and that these companies opt for road transport because they use a ‘just in time’ (JIT) system whereby a small quantity of stock is transported continuously which Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) does not accommodate. These factors have resulted in TFR’s poor service delivery. Therefore, a market demand strategy has been initiated by TFR to improve the performance of the company. It is important to note here that freight rail transport should concentrate on improving service delivery and not only on increasing capacity. The research participants indicated that the TFR objective to move freight back to rail could be accomplished. This will lessen the burden and damage to South African roads and reduce traffic congestion and accidents caused by trucks on the roads. It will also increase employment opportunities and the country’s economic competitiveness while reducing transport costs. All these aspects will make a significant impact on the economy of the country. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

O transporte rodoviário de cargas no Brasil apresenta um número reduzido de estudos principalmente no que se refere às informações sobre seu desempenho. A avaliação de desempenho sempre foi um tema de grande importância para o planejamento de transportes. Atualmente, com o acirramento da competição, seu conhecimento torna-se indispensável para a sobrevivência das empresas, que devem mudar suas gestões de uma visão puramente operacional para uma visão de negócios. O objetivo do trabalho de pesquisa é explorar o potencial da aplicação do método de análise envoltória de dados (Data Envelopment Analysis - DEA) para a avaliação de desempenho de empresas prestadoras de serviços de transporte rodoviário de cargas. Esta ferramenta determina a eficiência relativa de cada unidade em análise (DMU), comparando-a com as demais e considerando a relação entre seus insumos (inputs) e produtos (outputs). No trabalho, é descrito o método acompanhado por uma aplicação prática que determina a eficiência de empresas do setor. A partir daí, foram construídas as tabelas de classificação de desempenho (rankings) destas empresas que serviram para estudos comparativos com outras tabelas divulgadas anualmente numa revista brasileira da área. / The freight road transport in Brazil presents a reduced number of studies mainly in what it refers to performance information. The performance evaluation was always a theme of great importance in transport planning. Nowadays, because of the raise in competition, your knowledge becomes indispensable for the companie\'s survival, which should change your vision of management from purely operational to business. The objective of this work is to explore the application potential of the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method for the performance evaluation of companies which transport loads. The DEA method determines the relative efficiency of each unit in analysis (DMU) comparing it to the others units, and considering the relationship among inputs and outputs. In this work, the method is described followed by a practical example that determines the efficiency of the companies. Since then, rankings of performance of these companies were built for comparative studies with other ranking published annually in a specialized Brazilian magazine.

O transporte rodoviário de cargas no Brasil apresenta um número reduzido de estudos principalmente no que se refere às informações sobre seu desempenho. A avaliação de desempenho sempre foi um tema de grande importância para o planejamento de transportes. Atualmente, com o acirramento da competição, seu conhecimento torna-se indispensável para a sobrevivência das empresas, que devem mudar suas gestões de uma visão puramente operacional para uma visão de negócios. O objetivo do trabalho de pesquisa é explorar o potencial da aplicação do método de análise envoltória de dados (Data Envelopment Analysis - DEA) para a avaliação de desempenho de empresas prestadoras de serviços de transporte rodoviário de cargas. Esta ferramenta determina a eficiência relativa de cada unidade em análise (DMU), comparando-a com as demais e considerando a relação entre seus insumos (inputs) e produtos (outputs). No trabalho, é descrito o método acompanhado por uma aplicação prática que determina a eficiência de empresas do setor. A partir daí, foram construídas as tabelas de classificação de desempenho (rankings) destas empresas que serviram para estudos comparativos com outras tabelas divulgadas anualmente numa revista brasileira da área. / The freight road transport in Brazil presents a reduced number of studies mainly in what it refers to performance information. The performance evaluation was always a theme of great importance in transport planning. Nowadays, because of the raise in competition, your knowledge becomes indispensable for the companie\'s survival, which should change your vision of management from purely operational to business. The objective of this work is to explore the application potential of the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method for the performance evaluation of companies which transport loads. The DEA method determines the relative efficiency of each unit in analysis (DMU) comparing it to the others units, and considering the relationship among inputs and outputs. In this work, the method is described followed by a practical example that determines the efficiency of the companies. Since then, rankings of performance of these companies were built for comparative studies with other ranking published annually in a specialized Brazilian magazine.

The topic of this diploma thesis is design of road truck using electric drive. The main goal is to solve analyzed problems, which are reflected in the conceptual design of the vehicle that meets the ergonomic, technical and visual aspects.

The aim of this paper is to show what relation is between the distance and the transport price and which factors can contribute to the expected irregularity. Based on the real freight transport prices the paper is looking for and finding significant differences in the relative transport prices between chosen regions. It seems that the quality of the transport price is influenced by factors like the location of the target region within Europe and towards Czechia, within transportation routes and networks, its economic power and structure and possibly also by the mutual relations that the source and target regions have within the global supply chains. The quality of the transport connection between the regions is further compared with the connection that these regions have within the global city network. As was found out, these two kinds of connection do not have to necessarily be the same. A short questionnaire was taken among chosen transport experts to get the basis for a better interpretation of the paper's conclusions and also to get their opinion on the sense of the geographical research in the field of international transport and logistics. Keywords: international freight road transport, transport pricing, transport price, logistics, supply chains, geographical aspects of pricing