Thanks to booming manganese volumes, Ngqura has become a bulk port since 2018.Bulk volumes have increased from 609 000 tons in 2018 to 5.3 million in 2023.In the 2022/23 financial year, Transnet Freight Rail’s (TFR) manganese export line between Hotazel and Port Elizabeth carried a record 9 780 293 million tons, leaving 3.5 million tons to be transported by road.The same tipper system is being used in Port Elizabeth harbour to augment the manganese terminal, which has an annual capacity of six million tons.Transnet statistics show that the port handled over 10 million tons in 2023, which means that around four million tons were loaded at other berths in the port.East London is also handling manganese exports. Volumes through the port have also been boosted by the grain terminal coming back into service.The decline of the rail system is most evident in Richards Bay. Richards Bay Coal Terminal chair Nosipho Damasane reported in January that a “consistent and drastic decline” in coal volumes delivered via rail saw RBCT exports dropping to levels last seen in the early 1990s. Volumes through Saldanha Bay have remained relatively stable but remain below the high of 62 million tons in 2021. Cape Town volumes have yet to approach pre-Covid levels. It is the only port to have handled more bulk imports than exports, with 615 000 tons landed in 2023, compared to exports of 254 000 tons. Durban’s total volumes were boosted by around five million tons of landed bulk, with 11.5 million shipped.
