Terminal tops imports record
Richards Bay Coal Terminal celebrates record imports after power cut setback
A RECORD bulk of coal arrived at the Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) last week, boosting the company’s operation efficiency after a challenging start to the year.
Last week Wednesday, the world’s largest coal exporter welcomed a total of 318 847 tonnes of coal with a train handling time (THT) of 2.45 hours, breaking its previous record of 298 249 tonnes on 21 April last year.
The achievement was welcomed by the terminal soon after cutting its targets from 75 million tonnes to 73 million tonnes for this year, following a power cut in February which halted RBCT’s operations for almost 10 days.
‘This record equates to an annualised rate of 109.4mtpa (million tonnes per annum),’ said RBCT Operations General Manager Jabu Mdaki.
‘Through our ongoing improvement initiatives with TFR (Transnet Freight Rail), we will soon be handling the higher volumes on a more regular basis.
‘This also reinforces the fact that RBCT is capable of handling higher volumes.
‘This record comes at a great time to boost our morale, after the unfortunate power outage suffered in February this year.
‘We will continue our stride in becoming the terminal of choice.’
RBCT does not import (refer to the Oxford definition of imports, if in doubt) coal. TFR delivers coal, from the producers/exporters, to the terminal for export.