South African mines get a faster route to Mozambique port
A line of trucks along the N4 national highway, wait to cross South Africa's border into Mozambique, on the outskirts of Komatipoort.
South Africa’s mining companies, losing out on billions of dollars in sales due to logistics bottlenecks, could soon have a quicker route to ports in neighboring Mozambique.
The Logistics Co (TLC), indirectly owned by Old Mutual’s African Infrastructure Investment Managers, plans to open a trucks-only crossing at Komatipoort, just north of South Africa’s main Lebombo entry point into Mozambique. The project involves upgrading an existing service road along a railway line, and building a truck staging facility that will have customs and immigration offices on the outskirts of the town of Komatipoort, according to Hennie Jooste, head of operations at TLC.
The company, which already operates a rail terminal on the Mozambican side of the border, could process as many as 500 trucks daily at the planned new crossing, Jooste said by phone. That may reduce pressure on the existing border post that can see 1,800 trucks arrive daily, forming queues that sometimes stretch for 30 kilometers (19 miles), he said. The company’s main priority is to accommodate the 200 to 250 trucks TLC operates carrying magnetite, a type of iron ore, into Mozambique.
The lorries will offload at the rail terminal, and then return empty through the existing border. The minerals will then travel by train to ports in Maputo Bay.
South African producers of magnetite, chrome and coal have increasingly used the N4 highway through the Lebombo border to ship their minerals from the ports of Maputo and Matola as their own country’s rail and port infrastructure have floundered. At the same time, Mozambique has been increasing its port and rail capacity.
TLC plans to start construction around mid-October on the project, and complete it by May. It will cost about R50-million ($2.6 million) to build, Jooste said.
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
ESAB South Arica, the leading supplier of high-end welding and cutting products to the Southern African industrial market is based in...
VISIT SHOWROOM
John Thompson, the leader in energy and environmental solutions through value engineering and innovation, provides the following: design, engineer,...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
