South Africa’s disintegrating freight railway is crippling firms
If exporters cannot move their goods, the economy will stumble...
South Africa’s Freight Rail Network is in Such Bad Shape that Firms are Struggling to Move Goods
In 2017 trains hauled 81m tonnes of coal to export terminals. This year about 54m tonnes will go that way; lorries will carry only another 9m. The decline reflects a missed opportunity: international coal prices soared last year after Russia invaded Ukraine. The gap between what coal miners could dig and what they could export last year represents a loss of at least $4.7bn, estimates Jan Havenga of Stellenbosch University. Other miners and manufacturers report similar deficits. The total hit to South African firms from lost exports and the extra costs of going by road will amount to about 400bn rand in 2022 (6% of gdp)...
