S.Africa's Richards Bay exports up 10% in 2024 amid rail improvement
24/01/2025 10:55
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Commodity exports throttled by logistics bottlenecks
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Coal miners say rail performance improving
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Bulk of South Africa's coal goes to India, Pakistan
Jan 24 (Reuters) - Coal exports from South Africa's
Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) rose 10% to 52.08 million
metric tons in 2024, the highest in three years, amid signs of
improving freight rail performance.
South Africa's coal shipments have declined from 76 million
tons in 2017, mainly due to state-owned freight rail and port
operator Transnet's lack of capacity to haul commodities to
export markets.
Coal exports through RBCT, South Africa's main coal export
terminal, fell to 47.21 million tons in 2023, the lowest since
1992.
Transnet's struggles are blamed on a lack of locomotives and
spares, as well as cable theft and vandalism of its
infrastructure. This has forced some minerals exporters to
resort to trucking to port, with some commodity cargo now going
through Mozambique.
However, some major coal exporters, including Thungela
Resources TGAJ.J and Exxaro Resources EXXJ.J , said they
noted improved freight rail performance during the second half
of 2024.
RBCT said in a performance update on Friday that 6,342
trains were offloaded at the terminal in 2024, up from 5,820 the
year before. The average number of trains also edged up to 17
per day in 2024, from 16 the previous year.
In 2024, Asia's share of South Africa's coal exports
increased to 43.99 million tons, or 84.5% of the total, up from
37.1 million the previous year. India accounted for 25.75
million tons of the exports, while Pakistan imported 2.37
million tons.
Shipments to Europe, which surged to 14.3 million tons in
2022 after the European Union banned coal from Russia following
the invasion of Ukraine, further declined to 3.54 million tons
last year, after falling to 6.8 million tons in 2023.
(Reporting by Nelson Banya
Editing by Mark Potter)
((Nelson.Banya@thomsonreuters.com;))