Any port in a storm they say, but please not one in South Africa

The unclogging of South African ports would surely make a big difference to the cost of living in our country

Eskom-like decline, when the existing infrastructure is gradually whittled down till the point where the whole network just becomes unworkable.

The frustration of companies that depend on Transnet, like coal producer Exxaro, is becoming very evident and very vocal. What is less well known is that the car makers are equally furious; Transnet was only able to transport about half its target of automobiles in the 2022 year, and about two-thirds of its coal target.

Fortunately, Transnet management is very aware of this issue and has announced it is now open for joint ventures in some areas – and the response has been impressive. Transnet announced that it would seek investments worth R100-billion from private sector logistics companies to expand its port and terminal facilities in Durban and Ngqura (Coega) in the Eastern Cape.

This will be very useful: a World Bank study in 2021 rated Durban’s container-handling facilities at 364th out of 370 of the world’s competent container-handling facilities. There is unfortunately a reason why so many companies have come forward.

As more or less a monopoly, Transnet’s margins, even in its current state, are astronomical. Over the past decade or so, Transnet’s margins have run to about 50%. There are, one suspects, Colombian drug cartels that would be comfortable with those kinds of returns. They compare to, say, Grindrod’s margin at the same level of around 20% and Super Group’s 11%.

The point is that solutions to SA’s cost-of living problems lie not only in subsidies but also in efficiencies, and we should be pursuing those as aggressively as we push for things like making Covid grants permanent.