Jan 24 (Reuters) – Coal exports from South Africa’s Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) rose 10% to 52.08 million metric tons in 2024, the highest in three years, amid signs of improving freight rail performance.

South Africa’s coal shipments have declined from 76 million tons in 2017, mainly due to state-owned freight rail and port operator Transnet’s lack of capacity to haul commodities to export markets.

Coal exports through RBCT, South Africa’s main coal export terminal, fell to 47.21 million tons in 2023, the lowest since 1992.

Transnet’s struggles are blamed on a lack of locomotives and spares, as well as cable theft and vandalism of its infrastructure. This has forced some minerals exporters to resort to trucking to port, with some commodity cargo now going through Mozambique.

However, some major coal exporters, including Thungela Resources and Exxaro Resources, said they noted improved freight rail performance during the second half of 2024.

RBCT said in a performance update on Friday that 6,342 trains were offloaded at the terminal in 2024, up from 5,820 the year before. The average number of trains also edged up to 17 per day in 2024, from 16 the previous year.

In 2024, Asia’s share of South Africa’s coal exports increased to 43.99 million tons, or 84.5% of the total, up from 37.1 million the previous year. India accounted for 25.75 million tons of the exports, while Pakistan imported 2.37 million tons.

Shipments to Europe, which surged to 14.3 million tons in 2022 after the European Union banned coal from Russia following the invasion of Ukraine, further declined to 3.54 million tons last year, after falling to 6.8 million tons in 2023.

(Reporting by Nelson Banya; Editing by Mark Potter)