TFR's R200bn market share expansion drive

The logistics parastatal said it was aiming to be among the top five rail operators in the world, through the "market demand strategy of Transnet" - a new plan announced by President Zuma in his State of the Nation address on Thursday.

Zuma said that of the R300 billion to be spent on Transnet's capital projects in the next seven years, R200bn would be specifically invested in rail infrastructure. TFR chief executive Siyabonga Gama said on Friday that the market demand strategy was a step towards future growth. Gama said TFR would make massive investments on a rail line to the Waterberg coalfields, adding that it aimed to step up its manganese export capacity and rail replacement programmes, among others. Gama said the TFR was on the verge of finalising a national rail plan, informed by customer aspirations and designed to respond to the future needs of the economy.

"The Waterberg line has the potential to unlock a lot of coal from the area," Gama said, adding that other companies with deposits in the area have no immediate plans to do anything about the deposits because of water and logistical challenges. "We believe that the Waterberg can carry up to 80 million tons of coal" a year, he said, according to Business Report. TFR was also working on replacing locomotives and wagons for its rolling stock. "Our supply chain needs to be competitive so that local companies become competitive in other markets, and so that mining companies can invest in expanding their mines while those who got their new mining licences can begin putting them to use," Gama concluded.

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