Capacity on Sishen - Saldanha railroad to rise from 22 to 27mt
SPOORNET HAS announced a R170 million plan to increase capacity on the iron ore railroad between Sishen and the port of Saldanha from the current 22 million tons to 27 mt within three years.
Further development will take the line to 38 mt by the year 2009, says Khutso Mampeule, executive manager for Orex, Spoornet's business unit responsible for the ore railroad.
Last year reports in local and international media commented that Orex had exceeded its designed capacity of 18 mt by 3 mt and any further long-term growth was unlikely. Mampeule said that this year the line would pass the 23 mt mark as a result of demands now placed on it by last week's final commissioning of the Iscor Saldanha Steel Plant (SSP).
A spokesperson for SSP told FTW in Saldanha last week that the plant required 1,8 mt of ore to be delivered by Orex to a tight schedule. He said the short-term aim was to meet SSP's full requirements without affecting the tempo of Iscor's lump ore exports, which currently run at 17,8 mt a year.
In addition to Iscor, Associated Manganese Mines (AMM) uses up 4,3 mt annually of the ore line's capacity, a figure that will increase as a result of R125 million extensions to this company's Beeshoek iron ore open pit mine in the Northern Cape.
Mampeule said that Orex had been given the go ahead by Spoornet's management to embark on an ambitious growth strategy that would raise the line's capacity to 38 mt. The plan entails the deployment of new smart-cable technology, new locomotive 'consists', longer trains, upgrading of passing loops as well as more frequent scheduling.
We are already achieving higher and higher efficiencies, and the reason is the strength of the partnerships we have with our customers, the commitment and hard work of our people and the proven quality of the processes already in place. BY TERRY HUTSON
