Transnet ready to unlock SA coal exports
State-owned company to build the Overvaal tunnel between Ermelo and the Richards Bay Coal Terminal in order to expand capacity
Transnet is ready to kick-off the long-awaited Overvaal tunnel, a capital intensive project which will unlock significant coal export capacity for SA. But the state-owned company has warned it will need the market, and coal producers, to come to the party. The existing Overvaal tunnel, between Ermelo and the Richards Bay Coal Terminal, has been the single constraint to expanding capacity on the railway line. According to GM for Transnet Freight Rail’s coal business unit, Mandisa Mondi, the company has decided to build an additional tunnel, with two lines, which will be ready by 2025. “The design works and the specs to go out on tender have been compiled; it’s been through various governance structures within the company, and the moment we get the final go ahead to advertise it will be going out,” Mondi told delegates attending IHS Markit’s 14th Annual Southern African Coal Conference in Cape Town on Friday. Previous estimates were that the project would increase the coal export capa...
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