SA 2011 Richards Bay coal exports up 3.3%

State-owned logistics group Transnet has been investing heavily to upgrade its lines and to invest in new wagons and locomotives, but export figures are still far below the coal terminal's expanded capacity of 91 million tonnes.

South African coal producers like Anglo American, BHP Billiton, Exxaro, Optimum Coal and Xstrata have been eager to export more coal to meet rising demand from India and China but have been limited by bottlenecks on the lines leading to the port, Reuters Africa says. Transnet has said it will take until at least 2015 to be able to carry 81 million tonnes to the Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) each year.

The group also plans to free up an additional 14 million tonnes of capacity on the coal line by moving non-coal cargo to a new line via Swaziland. Coal producers have begun to look beyond South Africa and explore export routes via Mozambique and Namibia, although the rail links or expansion at the relevant ports are still in the planning stage or would involve higher costs. According to RBCT, coal stocks at the terminal stood at 3.3 million tonnes at the end of December.

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