By David Oosthuizen*
South Africa has spent years discussing its ports, rail corridors, freight reform and the national road network, but the more urgent question now is how efficiently goods move through cities and into businesses. The last mile of the supply chain increasingly decides whether businesses can compete but receives far less attention.
The last mile is more than merely final delivery to a customer; it is the final operational connection between a supply chain and the businesses, customers and markets it serves. That means stock into retail stores, parts into factories, product into business customers, supplies into offices and goods into dense commercial nodes where time, reliability and cost are measured daily.
The last mile has become urgent for practical reasons. Road carries 84.5% of seasonally adjusted land freight tonnage according to statistics in South Africa, and the trend is still tilting its way: Statistics South Africa’s latest land transport survey shows road freight volumes up 5,4% in the second quarter of 2026, to 254 million tons, while rail slipped 2,7%, so congestion and fuel costs land straight on operating margins. Mordor Intelligence’s Courier, Express, and Parcel (CEP) Market Report projects the South African market to expand from $672-million (about R10,9-billion) in 2026 to $946-million (about R15,4-billion) by 2031 at a compound annual growth rate of 7.08%, making it one of the fastest-growing segments of the local logistics market as e-commerce resets expectations on delivery speed and visibility. According to the Gauteng Provincial Treasury’s 2026/27 budget, Gauteng generates about 33% of national GDP, led by finance, trade and transport. The provincial economy is expected to grow by 2,1% in 2026, well above the national average, and much of that activity is packed into a dense urban footprint.
Businesses need proximity, resilience and flexibility. Proximity means being reliably close to customers, employees and suppliers, measured by travel time rather than kilometres. Resilience is the ability to keep operating when external systems fail, including energy, water, backup systems and digital connectivity. Flexibility means having a building and location that can adapt as needs change. A business may start with warehousing and distribution, then add light manufacturing, e-commerce fulfilment, showrooms, office space or customer-facing functions. If the building is too specialised, the tenant is constrained. If the location is too isolated, the business carries that cost every day.
This is why logistics property can no longer be treated as a passive category. A warehouse’s value sits in the system around it, from road access and energy security to water resilience and digital connectivity. Precincts planned at scale can deliver that system, because utilities, movement and services are designed across a whole environment rather than asset by asset.
Operational efficiency and sustainability are different things, and clients now weigh both when they choose a site. Operational efficiency shows up in yard depth, clearance heights, truck movement and access, which decide how quickly a site can turn stock. Sustainability covers energy efficiency, on-site energy generation, water reuse and waste management, and it determines both what a site costs to run and what clients can report on it. At Waterfall City, 1.3MWp of installed rooftop solar capacity and 1.3 million litres of backup water storage help reduce reliance on municipal electricity and water supplies, respectively. Against a backdrop of pressure on municipal electricity and water supplies, the precinct’s backup infrastructure plays an important role in maintaining critical services and supporting business continuity during outages.
Waterfall City Junction, which broke ground in November 2025, draws on the surrounding precinct rather than standing alone, benefiting from the surrounding precinct’s established infrastructure, road network and mix of retail, office, residential, hospitality and digital uses. Located within Waterfall City, it provides direct access to the N1 and major arterial routes, while placing businesses within an established mixed-use environment.
None of this is unique to one precinct, and it reaches beyond property. If South Africa is serious about improving logistics performance, the conversation cannot stop at national corridors. Ports and rail are essential, but every pallet, parcel and product eventually enters an urban system which requires roads that work, approvals that move, utilities that hold, data networks that connect and precincts designed around how modern commerce moves.
There is a need for cooperation from both public and private stakeholders. Government must continue pushing freight reform, infrastructure investment and planning certainty. Developers and investors must build beyond the boundary of individual assets, and clients must think carefully about the total operating environment, not just rental per square metre.
Companies are already changing the way they make property decisions, asking competitiveness questions such as: “Can this location help me serve customers faster? Can it reduce downtime? Can it protect my operating margins? Can it support my people? Can it adapt as my business changes?”
South Africa has long thought about infrastructure as a set of national assets. Businesses experience it where their operations happen. The port, the rail line and the highway will always command attention and investment, but the precincts and urban nodes where businesses operate will increasingly influence whether they can compete.
* Oosthuizen is Development Executive at Attacq
Article can be found at: https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/the-last-mile-is-south-africas-next-infrastructure-test-2026-11-02
