S.Africa’s Tharisa driven to truck its chrome as rail fails (Reuters – May 19, 2023)

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May 19 (Reuters) – South Africa’s rail freight problems mean Tharisa Plc (THST.L) has to truck 85% of its chrome export volumes to ports, the diversified miner’s CEO Phoevos Pouroulis said on Friday, adding he saw no prospect of a swift solution.

State-owned logistics utility Transnet is failing to meet demand for freight rail services because of a shortage of locomotives and spare parts, as well as cable theft and vandalism of its infrastructure.

For bulk mineral exporters, such as Tharisa, which co-produces chrome and platinum group metals (PGMs) in South Africa’s Bushveld Complex, the problems have a high cost.

Pouroulis said in an interview Tharisa is transporting nearly all of its chrome export volumes by road, a marked shift from the 80% it used to haul by rail because of its economies of scale and ease of loading and offloading. He said the company had no choice but to adapt and competition was intense for the limited rail capacity available.

For the rest of this article: https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/safricas-tharisa-driven-truck-its-chrome-rail-fails-2023-05-19/