Despite a loss of 38 days to bad weather, 2017 has been a record-breaking year for South Africa’s Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT), in Kwazulu-Natal, which loaded a record 76.47-million tonnes of South African-mined coal in the 12 months to the end of December.

The private-sector terminal, which is 29.54% black-owned and 6.52% black-women-owned, loaded 3.9-million tonnes more coal, a 5.1% increase on 2016 and a 1.4% improvement on the previous record of 75.38-million tonnes in 2015.

At a media briefing in which Creamer Media’s Mining Weekly took part, RBCT chairperson Nosipho Siwisa-Damasane praised CEO Alan Waller and his 489-employee team for doing a sterling job in the face of unprecedented weather setbacks, which resulted in a large number of 36 ships having to queue up at the port during May, and vessel line-up continuing during June and July.

The RBCT receives railed locally mined coal from State-owned Transnet Freight Rail, stackers allocate the coal to 98 stockpiles, reclaimers extract 42 different grades of coal from the stockpiles, shiploaders load that coal onto waiting vessels at the port operated by the State-owned Transnet National Port Authority, and the vessels then transport the coal to destinations around the world.

The RBCT has the capacity to load 91-million tonnes of coal and Transnet Freight Rail has the capacity to deliver 81-million tonnes.

Eighty-one per cent of the coal loaded at the RBCT during 2017 was delivered to India, Pakistan and South Korea, 10.1% to Europe and 7.8% to Africa.

Nine hundred and seven vessels called in 2017, which is six fewer, compared to 913 in 2016.

Targeted in 2018 is the loading of 77-million tonnes.

The coal-exporting companies range from large coal majors to small mining juniors that form part of the four-million-tonne Quattro junior mining export entitlement, less than half of which was taken up.

South Africa’s who’s who of coal mining are among the 18 co-owning exporting entities, which include Anglo Operations, African Rainbow Minerals Coal, Exxaro Coal, Glencore Operations South Africa, Sasol Mining, South32 Coal South Africa, Tumelo Coal Mines and Umcebo Mining.

The R1.34-billion Phase 1 machine replacement project, led by RBCT GM projects Bill Murphy, is on the cusp of ultrasmooth completion.

Both new shiploaders are in operation, without any disruption to those they are replacing, and two new rail-mounted stacker-reclaimers are close to commissioning, without a hitch in sight.

The replacement of 40-year-old equipment has taken place without hindering the RBCT’s record-breaking 2017 accomplishment and the terminal has publicly acknowledged the good performance of Chinese company TZME and Sandvik Mining Systems.

The Global Ports Forum last year awarded RBCT the accolade of bulk logistics terminal of the year and the Zululand Chamber of Business declared the RBCT the most efficient water user of the year.

The close cooperation between the State and private-sector entities was evident at the media briefing.

“We’re joined at the hip and we rely heavily on each other,” Waller told the many journalists present.

On the proposed new efficiency-enhancing Swazi rail link, Transnet Freight Rail COO Lloyd Tobias said the project was progressing and that a memorandum of understanding had recently been signed with the African Development Bank and the State-owned Industrial Development Corporation.

Swaziland had acquired land along which Transnet would install rail and had taken steps to relocate graves, for which Transnet had invited tenders.

“Everything is on track,” said Tobias of the project, for which private investment will be sought.

In the Waterberg, he said steps were being taken to upgrade the rail line to accommodate 26 t axle load, which would open the way for the transport of an additional ten-million tonnes of coal to the RBCT.

He said that the Botswana link to the Waterberg involved Botswana building 140 km of rail and Transnet 40 km, a project that would provide capacity for another 32-million tonnes of coal for the line.

Tobias said in response to Mining Weekly that Transnet Freight Rail, currently ranked number nine in the world, was aiming to be among the world’s top five railways.