Paul Nordengen

Director of Heavy Vehicle Transport Technology Africa in South Africa

Paul Nordengen is the Director of Heavy Vehicle Transport Technology Africa in South Africa. He was a Research Group Leader at the CSIR for over 3 decades. He obtained an MSc in structural engineering from Wits University in Johannesburg in 1988 and his PhD in performance-based standards for heavy vehicles in 2013. He has been involved in the development of bridge, overload control, abnormal load and road transport management systems in various countries in Africa. He is chairperson of the South African RTMS (self-regulation) and Smart Truck/PBS national committees, SABS TC 241 (RTMS) committee and was chair of the SARF Education committee for over 30 years. He serves on ISO TC241, the committee that developed ISO 39001, Road Traffic Safety Management Systems (2012). He was a member of various OECD-ITF Working Groups on High-Capacity Transport. He is a Council Member and Past President of the SA Road Federation and a Board Member and Past President of the International Forum for Heavy Vehicle Transport and Technology (HVTT) and now holds the position of Vice President: Africa.

Dr.Paul Nordengen is the Director of his own consulting firm, Heavy Vehicle Transport Technology Africa. He spent a large part of his career as a Principal Researcher at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa. He obtained an MSc in structural engineering from Wits University in Johannesburg in 1988 and his PhD in the area of performance-based standards for heavy vehicles in 2013. He has been involved in the development of bridge, overload control and abnormal load management systems in various countries in Africa.

He is Chairman of the South African national Smart Truck (PBS) committee for heavy vehicles in South Africa and Chairman of the Road Transport Management System (RTMS) national steering committee, a self-regulation accreditation scheme for heavy vehicles. He serves on ISO TC241, the committee that developed ISO 39001, Road Traffic Safety Management Systems (2012). He was a member of the OECD-ITF Working Groups on “High Capacity Transport”, “Policies to extend the life of road assets” and “Heavy Vehicles: regulatory, operational and productivity improvements” which resulted in three OECD publications including “Moving Freight with Better Trucks” (2011). He is a Council Member of the SA Road Federation (and Past-President) and has served as chairman of the SARF Education committee since 1997. He was President of the International Forum for Road Transport and Technology (IFRTT) from 2010 to 2014; he now holds the position of Vice President: Africa.

Farai is an energy transition, climate and sustainability specialist with over 10 years’ experience working at the intersection of strategy, policy

and implementation. He advises governments, international organisations and private-sector partners on translating sustainability and climate ambitions into practical, measurable and investment-ready outcomes.

His expertise spans sustainability and climate mitigation across the energy, transport, industrial and agri-food value chains. Farai leads and contributes to policy and business case development as well as regional collaboration initiatives that align decarbonisation objectives with economic development, energy security and long-term competitiveness.

With deep experience in African and emerging market contexts, he supports institutions in designing credible sustainability frameworks, aligning with international standards and structuring resilient value chains that deliver both environmental integrity and socio-economic impact. He is actively engaged in advancing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) value chain development in Africa, particularly through linking low-carbon fuels to regional agricultural and industrial systems.

Farai holds a master’s degree in chemical engineering and is finalising his PhD focused on developing SAF value chains linked to South Africa’s sugarcane industry. His combined technical, policy and market expertise positions him as a recognised knowledge leader in sustainability and climate-aligned industrial development.