Key topics:
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Transnet grants 11 firms freight-rail access concessions
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Rail reform aims to ease export and logistics bottlenecks
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Private operators could add 52m tons freight capacity
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By Ntando Thukwana
South Africa’s state transport firm Transnet SOC Ltd. granted 11 private companies concessions to operate trains on its freight-rail lines, part of a reform aimed at easing logistical bottlenecks that have constrained economic growth.
The companies, all of which made a shortlist that was announced by the government in August, included Grindrod Ltd., Minrail, Menar and Barberry.
The conclusion of the selection process “marks a significant milestone in South Africa’s developmental journey, successfully transitioning from policy reform to a functioning open-access rail system,” Michelle Phillips, Transnet’s chief executive officer, said in Johannesburg on Wednesday. “We have agreements in place with all 11 train-operating companies and engagements are currently taking place” to enable them to begin utilizing the lines, she said.
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The step is crucial to addressing South Africa’s logistics crisis and forms part of its new national rail policy, after coal exports fell to a 30-year low and iron ore shipments dropped to their weakest level in a decade as Transnet’s service deteriorated. Mining companies including Glencore Plc and Kumba Iron Ore Ltd. have struggled to move commodities to port, with disruptions also hitting industries such as automotive manufacturing and agriculture.
Private operators will be able to access 41 routes and six corridors used to move key commodities such as coal, chrome, manganese, fuel and other goods to ports for export.
“The allocations are expected to introduce an additional 24 million tons of freight capacity to the network, with the potential to scale to 52 million tons over the next five years,” Transnet Rail Infrastructure Manager said in a statement on Wednesday. That would support the national goal of increasing rail volumes almost 40% to 250 million tons by 2030, it said.
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South Africa’s eight commercial seaports handled 304 million tons of cargo in the 2025-26 financial year, up 4.2% from a year earlier, Transnet said in a statement on Tuesday.
© 2026 Bloomberg L.P.
