Theft disrupts rail line serving Durban port
The rail line running from Africa’s biggest container port to South Africa’s richest province ran at 25% of its capacity over the past week because of theft, vandalism and rail damage.
The 688 km line from the Port of Durban to Gauteng province only operated for 36 hours over six days, Transnet, the State-owned entity that runs the line, said in a letter to its customers seen by Bloomberg. The company confirmed the document.
“For the past week, there have been a total of 39 security-related incidents targeting critical areas on the mainline resulting in the closure of the line,” Transnet said in the letter, adding that heavy rain caused two further closures.
Criminals, often working in armed gangs, are targeting South Africa’s State-owned infrastructure, ranging from freight-rail lines to electricity-generating plants. That’s contributed to protracted power cuts and curbed shipments of crucial exports such as coal.
The container-rail line between Durban and Gauteng — a province that includes the biggest city of Johannesburg and the capital, Pretoria — is a key route for the country’s imports. It also transports cars from automotive plants and other manufactured goods to the port.
Transnet has repaired some of the vandalized equipment and replaced some stolen gear. Eighteen people have been arrested and 15 separate recoveries of stolen equipment have been made, the company said.
As a result of the disruption, 58 trains are either stuck on the line or in staging yards, Transnet said.
Comments
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