TMH Africa, United Wagon Company join forces

TMH Africa and the United Wagon Company (UWC) have signed an Africa-wide framework agreement for the development of an industrial partnership.

This is a first of its kind and will see the two entities partner to jointly service the Africa market for supplying freight wagons for the narrow-gauge.

Under this industrial partnership, parties agreed to cooperate in the field of freight wagon supply.

UWC will get the right to contract its orders and those of their customers in Africa to TMH Africa under best available terms and conditions. These orders will be implemented by TMH Africa at their Boksburg facility and can include manufacturing, assembly, maintenance of freight wagons and components. TMH Africa’s 64 000sqm facility has a rich history and legacy of manufacturing, servicing and refurbishing rolling stock for over 100 years. It has over 200 employees and is the centre of excellence for the narrow-gauge products within the TMH Group.

TMH Africa CEO Jerome Boyet expressed his excitement on the partnership.

“This is a big milestone for TMH Africa as it will further support our pursuit to service the African market out of South Africa. It recognises our narrow gauge and bogie expertise and will result in increased workload, increased export revenues and position South Africa as the rail manufacturing hub for the region.”

Boyet also explained that the expertise in freight vehicles that UWC brings to the party coupled with TMH Africa’s local and the TMH Group’s global rolling stock expertise, position this partnership as one that will add value to the revitalisation of the freight rail network in the continent.
UWC sales director Ivan Mikhalevich shared Boyet’s optimism.

“We believe in Africa as a market within which we can share our experiences for the mutual benefit of all parties. TMH is the ideal partner to grow our Africa presence that provides opportunities to optimise deliveries through local assembly and maintenance operations.”

He added that the narrow-gauge network is an enabler for increasing the volumes of freight that is migrated from road to rail. A big part of untapping this potential is the ensuring of a consistent supply of world-class freight wagons and their components. This is the value this partnership will deliver to the public and private sector customers.

UWC is the one of the largest rolling stock manufacturing company globally, with production capacities of more than 20 000 freight wagons per year.

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