New rail outlet for SA coal?

Transnet has begun increasing coal rail volumes to Richards Bay, with fewer security incidents, amid a decline in SA coal exports due to unreliable rail services.

Expressions of interest for the contract to build the new railway through Swaziland will be sought before the end of this year. The line will take about 16 Mtpa of general freight off the existing coal line from Ermelo to Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) in the short term, opening up capacity on that railway.

In early October, Exxaro announced that it has signed a 10-year transport agreement with Transnet to carry 7.8 Mt of coal on the Lephalale line from the Waterberg Basin to Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT). The deal is expected to trigger a big increase in output at Exxaro’s Grootegeluk mine, and the company’s CEO, Mxolisi Mgojo, said that it will invest ZAR10B (US$711M) in the area over the next five years.

Portuguese engineering firm Mota-Engil and China National Complete Engineering Corporation (CNCEC) have put pen to paper on a contract to transport coal from the Tete coal mines to a planned new coal port at Macuse.

The depressed state of the commodities sector has had an adverse impact on port and rail investments in South Africa.

South Africa’s Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) has announced a record handling target for 2017, after a fall in 2016.