Artwell Dlamini
28 November 2008
Johannesburg — THE time it takes to load a train with coal at BHP Billiton's Douglas Mine improved significantly when outgoing Transnet CEO Maria Ramos took over the reins.
Prior to 2002, a year before her appointment, loading a train took on average five hours -- now it takes only two.
"Loading performance has improved by 100% since 2002," says Burtie Maree, export coal manager at Transnet Freight Rail (TFR), a division of Transnet, who briefed the media this week on the performance of the coal line.
This improvement offers clues as to whether the 560km rail line, stretching from Blackhill in Mpumalanga to Richards Bay in KwaZulu-Natal, is becoming more efficient after years of unreliability and declining volumes.
The turnaround time -- the time it takes each train to make a return trip -- has fallen from 76 hours in 2002, to 54 hours now.
Even reliability and availability of locomotives has taken a turn for the better. Transnet has gone a step further in making the coal line efficient. After years of neglect, the transport parastatal is maintaining and upgrading wagons , locomotives, and infrastructure. I t intends adding 110 new locomotives to the coal line.
On progress regarding capital expenditure, Ramos said she was "pleased with the success of our capital investment strategy".
For the six months to September, Transnet said its investment in capital grew 22,3% to R8,3bn.
The state-owned enterprise plans to spend a further R12,6bn in the second half of the year, which will bring total spending for the year to R20,9bn.
Of the R8,3bn invested in capital, R4,4bn had been spent in expanding capacity, and the balance on replacing capacity.
About R222m had been invested in coal itself.
"We are pleased with the success of our capital investment strategy, which is reflected in the discernible shift in the bias of spending towards activities that expand, instead of replacing it.
"This means our strategy to create appropriate capacity ahead of demand for our existing and prospective clients, is being implemented," Ramos said.
These expansion efforts are beginning to bear fruit . The coal line hit a new weekly record of 1,454-million tons in November last year, compared to the previous record of 1,445-million tons.
Transnet has undertaken a feasibility study to determine whether 91-million tons a year is possible. The final report is expected in the first quarter next year.
However, this lofty capacity target seems unrealistic considering constraints TFR still faces. Ramos said for the six months to September, volumes on the coal export line had decreased by 6% to 29,9-million tons due to constraints such as infrastructure breakdowns, and two big derailments at TFR. During the 2007-08 financial year, the accident-prone coal line handled only 63,5-million tons of coal. This is lower than the peak of 68,8-million tons reached in 2005-06.
Maree said TFR experienced four major derailments last year, and has recorded three this year. He said the effect of derailments was "significant".
About 200000 tons a day are lost when a line closes and s ome miners take legal action due to these incidents.
Maree also attributed this poor performance to heavy rains, power failure, and coal mine production problems, among other factors.
It remains to be seen whether the five-year capital expenditure programme will improve performance.
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