South Africa’s export corridors reveal the true state of our economy because they determine whether we can convert productive capacity into sustained growth, much-needed forex, stable jobs and investable confidence.
When these corridors perform reliably, producers can plan with greater certainty, contracts are executed with fewer disruptions and customers are willing to commit to long-term supply relationships because the system signals consistent capability.
However, when export corridors weaken, the cost extends well beyond delayed volumes and missed targets because disruptions ripple through scheduling, stockpiles, shipping windows and commercial planning across the chain.
This is why the debate about freight rail and export logistics matters beyond just transport. Corridor performance is an execution test, and execution is ultimately what markets, customers and investors respond to.
Over several years business has watched corridor performance decline while policy discussions have continued, and the lesson has been consistent: improvement arrives when practical work is mobilised while reform takes shape. Accountability also needs to hold beyond the pressure of a single crisis or the visibility of a single announcement.
Collaboration amid reforms
In that context, collaboration becomes less of a theme and more of an operating requirement because corridor conditions continue to evolve while reform frameworks mature.
Rail reform is part of that journey, and it has begun to establish building blocks that are both necessary and useful. The network statement represents an important step because it moves the discussion from broad intention to the operating logic a reformed system requires, setting out how participation should function in practice and creating clearer expectations for access and oversight.
The broader reform direction also reflects a move towards clearer separation of responsibilities across the system, enabling the country to deal with infrastructure stewardship and train operations with greater clarity and discipline. These are foundational shifts, and they matter because they create a pathway for participation that can be governed and regulated, planned and sustained.
Even with those building blocks in place, corridor recovery still depends on the system’s day-to-day performance. A logistics system stabilises through disciplined intervention, or it weakens through repeated disruption, and that dynamic continues while policy processes move through the stages required to reach implementation.
The present moment therefore demands an approach that holds two priorities together: reform must continue to advance, and corridor recovery must proceed with urgency so that the operating foundation strengthens while longer-term structures are being built.
Even with those building blocks in place, corridor recovery still depends on the system’s day-to-day performance. A logistics system stabilises through disciplined intervention, or it weakens through repeated disruption, and that dynamic continues while policy processes move through the stages required to reach implementation.
Performance indicators help anchor this conversation by showing both the opportunity and the work still required. Total rail volumes were reported at 215.13-million tonnes in 2018/19 and at 151.7-million tonnes by the end of March 2024, indicating that recovery to earlier performance levels is steady – and that there is the potential to unlock full system capacity through sustained improvement.
The relevance of these figures lies in what they represent: a corridor environment that would respond to focus and consistency, and a recovery pathway that requires discipline rather than episodic effort. Industry participation becomes relevant in this context, provided it is framed as a practical mechanism rather than a general aspiration.
Partnership, in corridor terms, adds value by closing the gap between policy intent and operational stabilisation through clearly defined interventions, clean governance and a commercial model that enables urgent work to proceed without creating delays or uncertainty about responsibility. It also requires a clear boundary, particularly from the producer’s perspective.
Institutional stewardship and public accountability
Thungela does not position itself as an infrastructure developer and operator, and national logistics systems require institutional stewardship and public accountability that remain the responsibility of government and Transnet. At the same time, producers and corridor stakeholders can contribute constructively when collaboration is channelled into properly scoped projects that are transparently prioritised and executed with measurable outcomes.
In the coal export corridor two collaboration mechanisms have been particularly relevant in the current phase and are already being used to support stabilisation and project delivery. The mutual co-operation agreement has enabled urgent intervention when corridor incidents threaten immediate performance, providing a disciplined way to respond while preserving a clear approach to cost recovery and accountability.
Along with that emergency intervention model, a customer collaboration approach has provided a channel for planned projects that strengthen corridor condition and reliability while the broader reform process continues to develop. These mechanisms serve different needs and together they form a bridge between immediate responsiveness and sustained improvement, which is essential in any complex system that cannot be rebuilt in a single step.
The Richards Bay coal corridor illustrates how quickly performance responds when reliability begins to stabilise, while also demonstrating that there is potential to use latent capacity in the system. Richards Bay Coal Terminal’s (RBCT’s) design capacity is 91-million tonnes a year, and the highest capacity use level reached to date was 76-million tonnes in 2017.
The Richards Bay coal corridor illustrates how quickly performance responds when reliability begins to stabilise, while also demonstrating that there is potential to use latent capacity in the system.
Throughput is shaped by consistent deliveries into the terminal system and this is evident in recent figures. In 2024 RBCT reported exports of 52.08-million tonnes, up 10% year-on-year, with rail improvements reflected in operational indicators such as 6,342 trains offloaded compared with 5,820 in the previous year. Subsequent reporting indicates that exports rose further to 57.66-million tonnes in 2025, the highest level in four years.
These data points matter because they anchor the corridor debate in outcomes rather than commentary. They also reinforce the point that reform and recovery cannot be treated as sequential tasks, with one waiting for the other. Structural reform creates the governance required for investability; disciplined maintenance and operational excellence protect corridor conditions so that reform is introduced into a system that is stabilising rather than deteriorating.
Public policy has recognised the urgency of this balance. The 2024 budget speech confirmed a R47bn guarantee facility to support Transnet’s recovery plan and immediate debt obligations, and indicated that third-party access to the freight rail network would be introduced by May 2024, signalling intent to accelerate the creation of a more open and enabling operating environment.
These interventions create space, and the value of that space is realised through delivery: projects that improve availability, strengthen security, enhance reliability and restore the predictability that exporters and customers need.
Time horizons help to describe this work with honesty and discipline. Stabilisation in the near term requires fewer disruptions, faster responsiveness and stronger baseline predictability so that operations can be planned with fewer surprises. Reliability recovery in the medium term requires targeted interventions that address recurring constraints and strengthen execution across the system so that performance improves in a way that can be sustained rather than temporarily lifted.
Structural sustainability over the longer term requires completing rail reform in a form that is investable and enforceable, supported by clear access rules, proper oversight and a model that reinforces maintenance discipline as a permanent feature of the network.
Innovative partnership therefore has to be judged by outcomes rather than language. Alignment matters only when it becomes delivery, and delivery depends on shared priorities that are visible, projects that are scoped and governed, and accountability that remains intact even when pressure shifts elsewhere. Export corridors are systems, and systems recover through co-ordinated execution sustained over time, supported by a reform agenda that provides clarity and confidence.
Securing South Africa’s export corridors will strengthen far more than a single commodity value chain. Corridors influence industrial competitiveness, shape where capital flows and determine whether value chains expand or stall due to uncertainty. Fully functional corridors also have a multiplier effect, driving job creation, benefiting communities and supporting economic growth.
This indicates that the most valuable outcome of corridor recovery is sustained performance, as this signals national capability. When export corridor performance improves, the dividend is felt throughout the economy.
• Madondo is CEO of Thungela.
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