By Nelson Banya.
Grindrod will begin hauling coal from South African mines to Mozambique in 2027 under a deal giving private operators access to state-owned logistics company Transnet’s freight rail network, the companies said on Tuesday.
South Africa is reforming its freight rail sector to allow private firms to run trains on Transnet’s network, which is struggling to keep up with demand.
Transnet’s rail infrastructure unit has signed access agreements with 11 private train operating companies, including Grindrod, to boost freight rail volumes.
Grindrod plans to transport about 288,000 metric tons of coal from Mpumalanga to its Matola Terminal in Mozambique in its first year of operating on Transnet’s North-East corridor.
The private logistics company said it had successfully completed a test train round trip on the line on November 2.
The government expects private train operators to carry an additional 20 million tons of freight annually, advancing its goal of transporting 250 million tons by rail annually by 2029.
Transnet reported 167.9 million tons freight rail volume in the year ended March 2026, a 5% increase on the previous year.