The Department of Transport has launched a formal process to involve private companies in South Africa's struggling rail and port infrastructure, a move that logistics experts say is long overdue as the mining sector faces growing global competition.

Listen to this article 8 min Listen to this article 8 min When Daily Maverick asked Arnoud Dekkers, the Middle East and Africa business development head of DHL Global Forwarding -- the big industry "little brother" (his words, not ours) of logistics giant DHL -- why the big yellow courier service was trying to be incognito at Mining Indaba, he couldn't give a straight answer.

To be fair, he mumbled something about how expensive the stands were and how it wasn't worth the investment when he could do all the meetings in his personal delegate capacity.

Fast forward just over a month to Transport mMinister Barbara Creecy unveiling an online request for information (RFI) platform aimed at attracting private sector participation in rail and port operations while maintaining state ownership of core infrastructure assets, and it all begins to make sense.

"Strategic infrastructure such as rail lines and ports will remain in public ownership, as assets belonging to South African people," the minister stated during a media briefing. "At the same time, it paves the way for greater competition in rail and port terminal operations, which will attract private investment and improve our infrastructure to world-class standards."

Initial focus on...