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Transnet, which owns and runs South Africa’s ports and freight-rail network, is increasingly turning to private partners to help expand and improve its operations — a key driver of the nation’s economy.

The state-owned company is exploring the option of creating a rolling-stock leasing firm that would enable private entities to use its rail network, and plans to outsource the operation of a planned dry bulk terminal at Richards Bay on the east coast, it said in a response to queries. 

The process of selecting a partner to help it run Africa’s biggest container terminal in the eastern city of Durban, which it plans to expand, is also at an advanced stage.

Transnet has already begun looking for private operators for a liquefied natural gas terminal at Richards Bay, and for a new port and rail line at Boegoebaai in the Northern Cape — which is envisioned as a green hydrogen export hub. 

Last month, the company announced plans to issue a 20-year contract to run and maintain a rail line used to transport containers between Johannesburg and the Durban port.

What would amount to handing over the operation of many of Transnet’s activities to private companies comes as it battles to run its business. 

Coal shipments on the rail line to Richards Bay hit a three-decade low in 2022 due to a host of labour and sabotage problems and issues with its locomotives. In 2021, three of its container ports were in the bottom 10 out of 370 facilities that were ranked according to their efficiency in The Container Port Performance Index.– Bloomberg