Coal exports can be uplifted to 81-million tons, Richards Bay Coal Terminal believes

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In 2017, Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) exported a record 76.47-million tons of coal on the 907 ships that called in that year and chairperson RBCT Nosipho Damasane believes that exports can be uplifted to the 81-million-ton level, because when Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) does have a cracker of a day, RBCT is able to handle and move the equivalent of that volume - plus.
Rail volume recovery is the biggest go-get essential, with derailments and security issues in the first part of last year holding back cubic measure in a manner that South Africa should not allow to occur ever again.
"The key to our success has always been collaboration with Transnet," was Damasane's comment against the background of collaboration having never been more ardent.
On the export front, the team has been able to meet the equivalent of a 91-million-ton performance in its catch-up after recent bad weather to the build-up of a queue 15 vessel representing 1.3-million tons of coal.
"I'm comfortable that we certainly have the capacity. If we're asked to run at the 81-millions or peak higher than that, even with a reduced number of people that we've got, we're fully equipped to meet whatever's thrown at us," RBCT CEO Alan Waller told the media briefing attended by Mining Weekly,
Efforts to restore operational efficiency are being intensified through the National Logistics Crisis Committee, with joint initiatives that are coming from Business South Africa, Transnet, from the industry stakeholders, customers, and Minerals Council South Africa, and "we are beginning to see stability coming through the process," said Damasane, with breakthrough projects being tackled together.
Rail reform to make things better for Transnet is the next essential, with line scope increase and third-party involvement needed.
The mutual co-operation agreement with Transnet enables RBCT to procure compressors, batteries on a recovery basis.
This agreement is used where industry can do something faster or more efficiently and although it is not an automatic go-to and must be motivated within both structures, it has certainly worked well in several areas.
"There's really good collaboration between the teams in coming up with the technical specifications, bearing in mind that Transnet still has to own the infrastructure, own the spares, and make it work," Waller outlined.
Infrastructure assessment is being done jointly and a key value-creation project coming out of that is the reinstatement of signalling between Ermelo and Richards Bay, where cable theft has decimated the rehabilitation of the signalling systems.
"We're hoping that an award will be made in the next month or so, and that's probably about a 12- to 15-month initiative," Waller stated.
On its own, this project is set to unlock about seven-million tons of coal, which would be a significant gain to the value chain.
RBCT is engaging with Transnet to understand who is best positioned to do this work, along with how it will be done and funded.
Third-party operators are seen as a positive that needs to happen.
"But until we get the base infrastructure restored, it's going to be very difficult to run additional trains. So, industry's focus has been a collaborative focus with TFR and TRIM to get the base infrastructure reinstated.
"At that stage, we then understand what the locomotive capacity is, and you can understand whether there is capacity for third-party operators to take place.
"We also have collaboration on major incidents. If we do have derailments, where we can rally together and get quicker responses, then the industry will assist in that regard.
Meanwhile, the benefits of the work of breakthrough teams have already been apparent in terms of daily operations and the efficiencies, which has help...