Rail crash cuts back Saldanha shipments

A RAIL CRASH at Iscor's Sishen iron ore mine last week has disrupted iron ore shipments from Saldanha harbour. The service is not expected to return to normal until the latter part of August. A train loaded with 216 wagons of ore destined for Saldanha and a train from Black Mountain conveying 40 wagons of zinc concentrate destined for the zinc refinery in Springs were involved in the accident. Although the line has been repaired, the reconstruction of the damaged trains will take about six weeks according to an Iscor source. As a result only a single train will be in operation during this period which will cut back shipments by about 12%. The trains normally carry the equivalent of 60 000 tons of iron ore to the coast every week.