The decline of the South African freight rail network is really a national problem. Current estimates are that freight volumes have declined by 30% over the past five years. Transnet recently announced that it intends to reduce the freight network even further as it targets more profitable cargo loads.
Without an optimally operating rail system, the vision by the Citrus Growers’ Association of Southern Africa (CGA) of exporting up to 260 million cartons of citrus by 2032, which could sustain 100 000 new jobs and bring in an additional R20 billion in export revenue annually, is under threat.
Around 95% of fruit is currently transported to ports through the use of trucks. Only 3,000 containers out of a potential 100,000 were transported by rail to Durban in 2022 as a result of inoperable rail lines. The use of trucks is not only more expensive, but many roads throughout the country are in a poor state, with potholes causing rough transport conditions in which fruit gets damaged.
Growers are keen to transport their citrus via rail, with farmers in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, recently choosing this option to send their fruit to the Durban port. However, cable theft in the area resulted in containers of citrus being stranded for nine days, impacting the quality of the fruit destined for overseas markets and forcing these growers to return to trucks.
Source: iol.co.za