Richards Bay exports up 10% in 2024 amid rail improvement

Coal exports from Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) rose 10% to 52.08-million tonnes in 2024, the highest in three years, amid signs of improving freight rail performance.

South Africa's coal shipments have declined from 76-million tonnes 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 tonnes 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 and Exxaro Resources, said they noted improved freight rail performance during the second half of 2024.

RBCT said in a performance update on Friday 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 tonnes, or 84.5% of the total, up from 37.1-million the previous year. India accounted for 25.75-million tonnes while Pakistan imported 2.37-million tonnes.

Shipments to Europe, which surged to 14.3-million tonnes in 2022 when the EU banned coal from Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, further declined to 3.54-million tonnes last year, after falling to 6.8-million tonnes in 2023.