Lack of rail transport constrains SA coal exports

South Africa’s mining sector has expressed renewed concern of the lack of available rail transport. Coal exports through Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT), southern Africa’s main coal export terminal, are hampered by this infrastructure bottleneck.

The privately-owned RBCT has a capacity of 90Mta, but rail shortages mean that only 65.5Mt can be shipped, according to Chamber of Mines CEO Bheki Sibiya. “The shortage of rail transport is a very serious concern. That is why the mining sector has proposed to the Department of Mineral Resources that we own and operate our own railway cars on the Transnet-owned lines,” he said. Sibiya said that government had proposed a ZAR20bn upgrade of the country’s rail infrastructure.

Peter Temane, chairman of the SA Mining Development Association, said the real constraint at RBCT was that the big mining houses were not giving junior or emerging coal miners a fair chance at the terminal. “It has been common knowledge for some time that this has been the case. It is not just a matter of rail transport, it is the ability to export through Richards Bay,” he said. He added that the solution to the problem would lie in the government building its own coal terminal, giving fair access to junior miners, rather than nationalizing the RBCT.