World's one of the leading coal shipping port Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) has exported 27.7 MnT of coal till May 2013, which is 4.3% more compared to previous years same period. In 2012-2013 port had shipped a total of 68.3 MnT of coal, 4.3% more from preceding year 2011-2012 and may touch 71 MnT figure by keeping the same growth of 4.3% in current year.
Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) closed the coal line from Mpumalanga to Richards Bay for its annual maintenance from May 14 to May 25 so the coal rakes accounted 45.4% decline for bringing coal at port. (Single coal rake brings almost 7800-8000MT coal to port from mines.) This has affected the coal stock of May'13 at RBCT port which has dropped around 31% from previous month and reached at lowest level of 2.4 MnT in a year. Whereas, in 2011 Jan it had reached at 1.8 MnT level.
Transnet, which is a state owned freight and logistics group, is expecting to increase in coal exports from 68 MnT to 97.5 MnT per annum in next few years. RBCT's current shipping capacity is around 91 MnT per annum. To increase its productivity and export, port is planning to develop on sixth phase of its expansion plan and increase its capacity by 110 MnT per annum.
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