Richards Bay Coal Terminal

Richards Bay Coal Terminal
The railyard at Richards Bay, 14 August 2007
Location
Country	South Africa
Location	Richards Bay
Coordinates	28°49′05″S 32°03′07″E / 28.818°S 32.052°E / -28.818; 32.052Coordinates: 28°49′05″S 32°03′07″E / 28.818°S 32.052°E / -28.818; 32.052
Details
Type of harbor	Coal terminal
Land area	276 hectares (680 acres)
Available berths	6
Statistics
Annual cargo tonnage	91 million annually

The Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT), which is located in the Richards Bay harbour on the Indian Ocean coast of South Africa, is the largest coal export facility in Africa.

Positioned at one of the world’s deep sea ports, RBCT is able to handle large ships and subsequent large volumes. As such, it has gained a reputation for operating efficiently and reliably. The 276 hectare site currently boasts a quay 2.2 kilometres long with six berths and four ship loaders. Currently, the terminal has a storage capacity of 8.2 million tons of coal and is serviced by seven stacker reclaimers, two stackers and a reclaimer.

In September 2006, RBCT set a new world record by loading and exporting 409,809 tons of coal in a 24-hour period at an annualised rate of 149.17 million tons per annum (Mt/a). Potential throughput is to reach 91 million tons a year by the first half of 2009.

In 2007 annual throughput was 66.12 million tons, despite a capacity of 76 million tons. It was largely due to rail deliveries failing to reach expectations.

RBCT commenced its Phase V expansion project in September 2006, which was completed in May 2010 and rose the throughput to the current capacity. Discussion about available export capacity to emerging black coal miners in South Africa is still going on. Therefore, Transnet and Grindrod started to build up coal export capacity through the Richards Bay Terminal (RBT), the dry bulk terminal of Richards Bay. The capacity of this facility will be increased to 4.5 million tons a year, which will give together with 4 million ton capacity reserved in the RBCT a total capacity of 9.5 million tons a year, which should be sufficient to cover the export needs of the black miners in the next years.

In January 2012, the Swazilink rail project was announced, which would remove general freight traffic from the Richards Bay line and allow more coal trains to Richards Bay Coal Terminal. Completion is foreseen for 2019 or 2020.

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