COAL exports through the Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) should hit 50 million tons (Mt) this year compared with last year’s 47.2Mt – but that depends on Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) maintaining performance improvements that have only become apparent in July.
That’s according to RBCT CEO Alan Waller who commented: “It has been tough going”. RBCT management is disappointed so far this year by Transnet because while it had set a budget target of 50Mt for 2024 there was hope 55Mt could be reached.
Interviewed on the sidelines of the Coal and Energy Transition Day conference in Johannesburg today, Waller said that coal exports during the first six months of 2024 had level-pegged at last year’s annualised rate of 47Mt.
“Throughput was pretty much flat – within a couple of hundred thousand tons of what we did last year – but in recent weeks we have seen a slight up-tick in the rail rate.
“For July month-to-date we are sitting at about a 55Mt/year rate so we are seeing the benefits of some of the work that has been done. It has been slow but it is starting to come through. The hope at this stage is that we should get to the 50Mt for the year.”
Asked where the improvements had come from Waller attributed the improved performance to “a couple of initiatives around signalling which added an additional six slots plus we have had a joint initiative where we have supported Transnet with buying batteries and compressors.
“Those are delivered and installed so we are starting to see some reliability coming through in some of the rolling stock fleet. There are also a lot of maintenance and other initiatives happening within Transnet which are starting to come together.”
Waller confirmed earlier reports that these purchases had been made by the coal exporters on behalf of Transnet which was paying the money back to them through a rebate on rail tariffs. “It’s a tough process with lots of challenges on the line. We are definitely moving in the right direction although a bit slower than we would have liked,” Waller said.
