Photo by: Andre Meyer Photography
The private-sector-owned Richards Bay Coal Terminal, which opened in 1976 with an original capacity of 12 million tons a year, 42 years later has a design capacity of 91-million tons a year – 10-million tons more than the State-owned Transnet Freight Rail is currently able to deliver. In a further step forward, the terminal last month officially unleashed brand-new stacker reclaimers and shiploaders, which are poised to improve turnaround times for coal exporters, who sell an overwhelming 81.6% of the South African-mined coal to Asia, 10.1% to Europe, 7.8% to the rest of Africa and 0.5% to South America. The deep-level port handles large ships that carry large volumes from 2.2 km of quay and an 8.2 million-ton-capacity stockyard.