Income from freight transport up 4% in August

The volume of goods transported (payload) for August 2012 decreased by 2.4% compared with August 2011.

Stats SA also noted that income from freight transportation for the three months ended August 2012 increased by 6.9% compared with the same period last year.

The rise was largely driven by primary mining and quarrying products (10.3% and contributing 3.2 percentage points)‚ followed by other freight (11.5% and contributing 1.2 percentage points); and manufactured food‚ beverages and tobacco products (7.0% and contributing 1.0 percentage points).

The number of passengers transported increased by 8.7% in August 2012 compared to the same month last year‚ with the corresponding income having increased by 13.5% over the same period.

Income from passenger transportation increased by 12.7% in the three months ended August compared with the three months ended August 2011.

Stats SA reported that income from passenger transportation by road increased by 10.6% and contributed 8.2 percentage points; and income from passenger transportation by rail up by 19.9% and contributing 4.6 percentage points.