Richards Bay Coal Terminals (RBCT), operated by Transnet Port Terminals (TPT), is experiencing a renaissance of efficiency, marking a significant milestone as it celebrates the handling of 30 million tons of cargo in the last financial year.
In an interview with Business Report on Friday, RBCT managing executive Thula Dlamini highlighted the strategic initiatives that have propelled the terminal’s success.
“This includes growing strategic commodities there such as chrome and magnetite much more than the volumes that we did in the last financial year. Coal we expected to do less as the market price faced challenges but we still ended up doing much more than we had budgeted for,” Dlamini said.
“We’re still using the same number of assets that we’ve used. I think we’ve just utilised our assets better. and we continue to improve our efficiencies and that is where the bulk of our growth comes from.”
The terminal is now reportedly achieving levels above its operational targets, with magnetite sometimes exceeding outputs of up to 1 800 tons per hour, compared to the planned 1 300 tons per hour.
This upward trend is mirrored in the chrome sector, where the terminal consistently surpasses its operational goal of 900 tons per hour, reaching figures above 1 300 tons.
Similarly, coal operations, which are designed to handle approximately 130 tons per hour, are clocking in an impressive 300 tons per hour.
Such efficiency advances have resulted in quicker ship turnarounds, enabling the terminal to accommodate more vessels and realise greater throughput.
Looking into the new financial year, Dlamini said they were already looking at what more they can do to improve efficiency further.
“We are looking at what more can we do because the volume is there; it is really for us to load ships and load them faster and that is our focus this year and going forward because we’ve got the commodity in our country 70% of the world’s reserves demanded by the world and even with the tariffs that America is imposing on different countries,” Dlamini said.
“These commodities are exempt from the tariff so that means there’s demand and that demand is unconstrained and we just simply need to become the outlet to ensure that that demand is satisfied.”
Dlamini announced that two major conveyor belts, previously damaged in a fire in 2021, have now been repaired and commissioned, restoring critical infrastructure.
“The Arcelormittal South Africa conveyor belt we are hoping to have it commissioned and operating later in May while the Foskor Richards Bay conveyor belt is back on stream and basically what this means is that we reduce the number of trucks coming to the terminal to collect stuff,” Dlamini said.
“With the conveyor belt back online there we are able to work ships through the conveyor belt and there is no need for the large amount of trucks that come into the terminal. It takes away the pressure on our roads due to congestion.”
The fire in 2021 did a lot of damage to the Terminal.
“It took a lot of coordination from a number of departments of TPT as a whole and not just Richards Bay Terminal. It took a lot of work and a multifaceted approach to get the Terminal back to the position where it is now,” Dlamini said.
BUSINESS REPORT
