South Africa’s breakbulk
industry will derive the
greatest benefit from
Transnet’s Market Demand
Strategy (MDS) because much
of the investment will go to rail
improvements.
That’s according to Transnet
CEO Brian Molefe who believes
that the investment of more
than R150 billion in Transnet
Freight Rail will increase rail’s
competitiveness in the bulk cargo
and even the project cargo sector
significantly.
“Rail’s greatest advantage lies
in its ability to move bulk cargo
more cheaply than road over long
distances,” he said in Cape Town
recently. “The MDS, which will
see us spending R300 billion
overall in the organisation, is
really aimed at moving road cargo
to rail. Through this investment
we will increase our capacity
exponentially, which bodes well
for the breakbulk industry.”
The MDS will see the
organisation increase its revenue
from R46 billion to a whopping
R128 billion over the next seven
years, with profits set to increase
to R68 billion.
“This is our story and we are
sticking to it,” he said.
Through the MDS, Transnet
Freight Rail will see an increase of
44% in its coal capacity, moving
98 million tons of coal by 2019
from the current 68 million tons.
“This will make us a key thermal
coal exporter in the world,” said
Molefe. “Our targets to increase
the iron ore moved from 53
million tons to 83 million tons will
see us become the fourth-largest
supplier of iron ore to China while
we will also become a leading
manganese exporter globally.”
He said while the investment
would especially benefit the
general freight business – with
containers coming though the
country’s ports expected to
increase from 4.3 million to 7.6
million – the breakbulk sector was
an important area Transnet wanted
to address.
“Yes, we will see our containers
on rail increase drastically, but it
is in the movement of bulk cargo
where the real advantage lies,”
he said. “We want to see the 7.3
million tons of coal we move for
Eskom increase to an expected
29.6 million tonnes, while we
want to improve the manganese
from 4.8 million tons at present
to 11.7 million tons. We are
also planning a new manganese
terminal at the Port of Ngqura,
while the railway line from De
Aar to Ngqura will see some
major refurbishment.”
CAPTION
Brian Molefe … ramping up capacity
and operational performance.
