Transnet record freight volume

[John Ashworth]

TRANSNET RECORD FREIGHT VOLUME

On July 17, 2012 Railways Africa

Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) carried a record 201 million tons of freight in the year to 31 March 2012 – the highest in the history of South Africa’s railways. The total represented an increase of 10.4% over the previous 12 months.

“This performance includes a significant improvement in the number of trains operated per day,” Transnet says. “In October 2011, we ran the highest number at 1,444, up from about 800 per day in the previous period.”

Other noteworthy records were weekly throughput (productivity) levels on both the money-spinner heavy-haul routes – 1.7mt on the ore line and 1.2mt on the coal. Export coal volumes rose 8.8% to 67.7mt. The corresponding increase for iron ore was 13.2% (moving 52.3mt altogether).

Container traffic rose 21.5% to 762,760 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) – up from 627,825 TEUs. Altogether, general freight volumes increased by 9.9% to 81mt.

On-time departures and arrivals for general freight improved by 18.9% and 17.7% respectively, reflecting positive results from the new scheduling strategy.