Transit cargo buoys Swazi rail

In the face of economic challenges
impacting the movement of local cargo,
Swaziland Railway can find solace
in the country’s strategic geographic
position that requires neighbouring
countries to ship cargo through its rail
system.
“90% of our transit cargo comes
from South Africa. Altogether 70% of
our cargo volumes come from transit
traffic,” Sive Manana, corporate
communications specialist for
Swaziland Railway, told FTW.
“Minerals from South Africa make
up the bulk of transit traffic,” added
Stephenson Ngubane, the company
CEO.
The iron ore mining operation that
in 2013 returned Swaziland Railway
to its origin as a shipper of iron ore 50
years ago, was liquidated on 31 January
2015, leaving millions of rand in debts
owed to its road and rail freight haulers.
The termination on 31 December 2014
of Swaziland’s participation in the US
trade initiative, the African Growth and
Opportunities Act (Agoa), devastated
Swaziland’s textile industry built to take
advantage of duty-free access by Swazi
products into the American market.
However, the subsequent shuttering of
textile firms affected Swaziland Railway
less than road freight operators.
“This has affected Swaziland Railway
like most transport operators, but a
lot of players in (the textile) industry
use road transport because of timeline
problems,” said Manana.
“We are still moving largely the same
commodities that we were moving last
year, with the exception of iron ore.”
On average four million metric
tonnes of cargo are moved through
Swazi’s rail system yearly. Containerised
cargo is handled at the Inland
Container Depot or so-called dry port
in Matsapha, where 3m, 6m and 12m
containers are loaded and offloaded.
Upgrades carried out at the port in
2002 have seen a rise in traffic from
2500 TEUs annually to 10 000 today.
The facility is getting crowded and will
likely see further expansion.
This expansion will become urgent
with the opening of the Lothair Link,
a joint project with Transnet Freight
Rail that will substantially increase
cargo traffic.