A R50bn plan has been unveiled to reduce truck traffic on the N3 by roughly one-third.
The proposed Port of Gauteng hub aims to address critical inefficiencies in SA’s logistics system, create 50,000 jobs and fix the Durban—Gauteng Freight Corridor, according to NT55 Investments, which is behind the initiative.
The developer owns large tracts of land designated for the project along the railway line and the N3 freeway, located southeast of Johannesburg.
Port of Gauteng has released a White Paper detailing how the facility aims to ease pressure on the Durban—Gauteng Freight Corridor, SA’s most strategic freight route, with an integrated rail and road freight strategy.
The private sector initiative aligns with government plans for modernising the country's transport systems, recognised in the National Development Plan 2030. The Port of Gauteng aims to address the Durban-Gauteng freight crisis by creating a large, efficient inland trade gateway with short turnaround times.
The facility aims to have car and rail terminals and direct train-to-truck transfers. According to the White Paper, the development will be a multimodal logistics platform that will act as a central distribution gateway.
Cutting transit times and costs
Francois Nortjé, the project’s developer, said the inland port could significantly reduce transit times and costs for manufacturers and exporters.
He says the Durban-Gauteng Freight Corridor was under severe strain, and improving its infrastructure and reducing transport costs was critical for economic growth and to handle the container volumes in Durban. Annual freight container volumes are projected to grow from 2.8-million in 2024 to more than 11-million containers in the coming years.
Nortjé said rail travel time for the 690km from Port of Durban to City Deep in Johannesburg was up to 24 hours as freight was delayed by Prasa’s passenger network. That resulted in rail decreasing to moving less than 14% of Durban-Gauteng container traffic — far below the National Development Plan’s target of 50% — due to the travel time by truck on the N3 being a much quicker eight hours.
“With more cargo moving via road, the result is a freight system that is costly, congested, inefficient and unsustainable,” said Nortjé.
Companies such as Shein, Temu and Amazon — who fly most of their sales into SA — are expected to increasingly switch to container shipping as their volumes scale, meaning that additional strain will be placed on the corridor, he said.
The White Paper emphasises the role of performance-based standards (PBS) vehicles in the proposed model. These long truck and trailer combinations can carry more freight per trip, leading to fewer trips, reduced congestion, lower fuel consumption and less road wear.
The developers estimate that PBS vehicle integration could reduce truck traffic on the N3 by as much as one-third, reducing congestion and improving safety.
Nortjé proposes a managed balance between PBS trucks and rail, anchored by Port of Gauteng as an inland hub.
The facility will link directly to major freight rail lines connecting Gauteng to Durban, Ngqura and Cape Town ports, with on-site facilities enabling seamless container transfers between rail and road.
“Since the 2013 National Development Plan set ambitious 2030 targets for shifting freight from road to rail, little progress has been made — and with just four years to go, the need for decisive action is urgent. As road congestion worsens and rail volumes decline, this paper outlines a practical solution — leveraging the Port of Gauteng’s R50bn inland port — to restore balance, reduce costs, and unlock long-term economic growth,” said Nortjé.
“The corridor is SA’s most strategic freight route, but its sustainability is at risk. Without decisive action, the current inefficiency, congestion and rail decline will stifle economic growth.”
The missing link
The Road Freight Association (RFA) welcomed the project and said it represented a pivotal opportunity to address the systemic inefficiencies crippling SA’s economic arteries, particularly the Durban-Gauteng freight corridor.
Port of Gauteng may well provide the “missing link” that can make rail competitive again, it said. By providing the world-class infrastructure and reliability that shippers demand, it creates a viable business case for the road-to-rail shift.
The RFA said the success of Port of Gauteng would be largely dependent on the efficiency of the road transport interface, as road freight operations provide the vital “first- and last-mile” services that connect the rail network to the broader economy and customers who do not have sidings or efficient access to rail depots.
“The White Paper envisages seamless train-to-truck transfers — which is a critical aspect if any success is to be achieved,” said Gavin Kelly, CEO of the RFA.
“To achieve this, substantial investment must extend beyond the boundaries of the port to the surrounding road infrastructure and intermodal facilities. It is essential that true gateway is developed and built, not just a simple relocation of the bottleneck from Durban to Gauteng.”
He said the integration of PBS vehicles into the design of the Port of Gauteng was intriguing, but cognisance must be taken of the fact that this is still a pilot project, as well as the effect this will have on all road freight operators who operate standard, legal combinations.
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