JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) has set a new record for coal railed to the Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT), with 7.46-million tons transported to the export terminal in August.
This compares with the previous record of 6.9-million tons.
RBCT CE Alan Waller attributed this milestone to a joint collaboration between RBCT and TFR. “This is a major milestone, as it is the first time in 41 years of RBCT operation that we have offloaded more than seven-million tons a month.”
TFR CE Ravi Nair commended all stakeholders who were involved in the achievement of this record.
He added that the strides taken by the company to improve efficiencies played a significant role in the achievement of the milestone.
TFR embarked on a seven-day annual shutdown of the coal line during July to effect the necessary maintenance activities. This exercise has yielded positive results in the form of, besides others, enabling operators to significantly improve transit times from Ermelo to Richards Bay and improve wagon cycle times from 67 hours to an average of 61 hours.