Andre Klynsmith

Cargo Handling

165 Trains and a 65-Million-Tonne Target: Why Richards Bay's Bulk Recovery Is the Cargo-Handling Story of 2026

South Africa's biggest bulk gateway is clawing its way back. Richards Bay is on track to move roughly 65 million tonnes of coal in 2026 as improved rail deliveries feed the terminal — but a June derailment and a multi-day maintenance shutdown are a reminder of how fragile the recovery still is.

Cargo Handling

29 July 2026 • 4 min read

Richards Bay's coal and dry-bulk handling is recovering on the back of better rail performance, with coal exports tracking toward a 65-million-tonne year. For SADC bulk shippers, the lesson is that terminal throughput lives or dies on the rail line feeding it — and that resilience, not just volume, is what to watch.

Rail improvements are feeding the quay

The recovery model at Richards Bay is straightforward: when the rail line delivers, the terminal ships. In recent reporting, 165 trains were railed to the Richards Bay Coal Terminal, and coal exports are tracking toward a target of about 65 million tonnes by the end of 2026. That is a meaningful step up from the depressed volumes of recent years, and it flows directly from incremental improvements in Transnet's bulk rail performance, which has been returning toward pre-pandemic levels.

It is not only coal. Dry-bulk cargo volumes have risen on the back of export demand for chrome ore, magnetite and manganese — commodities that share the same corridors and terminals and that benefit from the same rail gains. When the line works, the whole bulk complex breathes.

The fragility beneath the numbers

The recovery is real but thin. A derailment on the coal line during June 2026 is estimated to have cost roughly 700,000 tonnes of first-half export volume — a single incident wiping out days of throughput. A planned multi-day maintenance shutdown of the line followed, deliberately trading short-term volume for longer-term reliability. Both episodes show how exposed a rail-fed terminal is to a single point of failure.

When rail stumbles, cargo tries to shift to road, and the terminal's landside gates become the pinch point. Managing that overflow — truck staging, gate throughput and yard capacity — is now as much a part of the cargo-handling equation as the ship loaders on the quay.

Private capital enters the picture

Transnet has invited private investors to help operate the Richards Bay Dry Bulk Terminal, with the stated aim of lifting the facility's export capacity by around 45%. That mirrors the broader private-partner drive underway across South Africa's ports and signals that bulk handling — not just containers — is now firmly in the reform conversation.

For the wider region, a more reliable, higher-capacity Richards Bay matters well beyond South Africa. Zambian, Zimbabwean and Botswanan bulk exporters weighing their routes to the sea will factor terminal reliability and capacity into whether they push volume south to Richards Bay or west toward alternative corridors.

About the Author
	Andre Klynsmith Entrepreneur & Technology Enthusiast Andre's expertise spans technology, blockchain, transport, and logistics — with a passion for innovation and driving positive change across industries. info@laaimylorrie.com | laaimylorrie.com