Zimbabwe revival holds promise for Swaziland Railway

Gideon Mahlalela, the longserving
CEO of Swaziland
Railway, officially retired
this year, though a search for his
replacement will keep him on the job
to the end of 2011. By that time a
reversal may have occurred from this
year’s dismal minerals exports from
Southern African mines that enrich
the small landlocked country’s rail
system through transhipment charges.
“We move a lot of minerals, and
our revenues have come to depend
on this. Volumes from Phalaborwa
are still consistent compared to
shipments in previous years, but
ore from Zambia is way down. It’s
been just a few trains all year. They
ship through Swaziland to Richard’s
Bay,” said Mahlalela, who reached
mandatory retirement age for a Swazi
parastatal in 2010 but had his contract
renewed while the company’s board
locates a new head. Mahlalela’s term
as CEO began in 1993, 30 years after
the railroad began operations hauling
iron ore from the now-defunct
Ngwenya mine in western Swaziland
to Maputo for shipment to Japan. The
circle has come around, and this year
finds minerals the railway’s cargo
mainstay.
Stephenson Ngubane, director
of operations and marketing at
Swaziland Railway, said: “Mineral
traffic from Phalaborwa continues to
dominate the North Eastern Corridor
route through Swaziland moving rock
phosphate and magnetite.”
Transit traffic is key to the
railway’s profitability. “In the five
months of the financial year (from
April 1, 2010) transit traffic volumes
grew by 33% when compared to
the same period last year. This has
been a good start and one hopes
that the strong performance will be
maintained save for line closures that
may be caused by derailments and
natural disasters such as wash-aways.
“According to our information the
situation in Zimbabwe has improved,
however SR is not benefiting from
this because the traffic is no longer
conveyed over Swaziland Railway
lines but has been diverted to other
networks. We hope it will come back
in the future.”
In a 2009 FTW report, a rise in
overall transit traffic for Swaziland
Railway was noted, but with this
caveat: “General goods dropped due
in part to a very low demand from
Zimbabwe.”
The former customer has yet to
return to Swaziland Railway