West Coast Business News & Directory.

Saldanha ore line to receive another 32 locomotives

South Africa’s freight logistics group Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) on Wednesday announced that it had placed an order for 32 new 15E locomotives for its iron-ore line between Sishen and Saldanha, in line with a target to boost capacity to 61-million tons a year on the 860-km line. Transnet newly appointed CEO Brian Molefe said service levels were expected to improve significantly as TFR progressively...

Transnet Saldanha Bay, plans to buy up to 100 locomotives

State-owned freight logistics group Transnet will aim to purchase between 75 and 100 locomotives a year over “a prolonged period” to reduce the average age of its locomotive fleet from 30 years to below 20 years, acting CEO Chris Wells reports. Writing in the group’s 2010 annual report, released on Friday, Wells indicated that the intention was to “smooth” the acquisition...

Derailment Sees Transnet Shut Down Ore Line

Transnet announced Saturday that it was shutting down an ore rail one after the derailment of a train with ore onboard. The line between the Sishen mine owned by Kumba Iron Ore and the Saldhana port would take the parastatal some time to clear. It is used by Kumba to export steel and ore to foreign markets. Sandile Simelane of Transnet said : “we will need to conduct an enquiry to establish what...

Expansion plans for Saldanha Bay port on the West Coast

A remarkable transport/engineering feat happened during last year’s Christmas season – on 27 December – at the Sishen railway station. It literally set the wheels in motion for far-reaching results, especially so for Saldanha’s iron ore export effort. On that day the last of ten trains left the Northern Cape’s iron export station for Saldanha, almost 1 000 km to the south. Its successful...

Strike at Saldanha port, Kumba has iron ore for 7 days.

Thousands of South African transport workers went on strike on Monday at logistics group Transnet, threatening to cripple rail, fuel pipelines and port operations in Africa’s biggest economy. The strike – the latest in a series of public protests ahead of next month’s soccer World Cup – could affect coal and iron-ore exports, fuel distribution, and shipping. Power utility Eskom...

JOHANNESBURG & ERIE, Pa., Dec 18, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) — GE | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating– GE South African Technologies (GESAT), GE Transportation’s entity in South Africa, announced today that it has signed a landmark contract with Transnet Limited to supply Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) with 100 locomotives. TFR is South Africa’s state-owned rail freight logistics...

Kumba Assesses Participation in the Sishen-Saldanha Iron Ore Railway Line

South Africa’s largest iron ore exporter Kumba Iron Ore would like to get directly involved in the operation of the Sishen-Saldanha railway line, according to its CEO Chris Griffith. Mr Griffith acknowledged the issue was a sensitive one. This is because although Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) maintains it is running Sishen-Saldanha to international best practice, Mr Griffith believes it could be...

Sishen to Saldanha draft scope for Transnet

I was recently looking for more information about the growth potential of the West Coast and came across this scoping draft report it makes very interesting reading, it was too big to post on the site so I added a link below. DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL SCOPING REPORT(DEAT APPLICATION NO. 12/12/20/806)for the proposedPHASE 2 EXPANSION OF THE TRANSNET IRON ORE HANDLINGFACILITY, SALDANHA BAY, WESTERN CAPE here...