South Africa’s heavily indebted state power firm, which is struggling to keep the nation supplied with power, is in talks with Transnet to increase the tonnage and lower the price of coal transported by rail, the state logistics firm said.
Eskom, which has been trying to procure coal at the right price and quality, has regularly cut power supplies in the past year because of unreliable coal-fired plants.
“The opportunity here is to work at the quality of coal and the sourcing of coal from the right mines to the right power stations,” Transnet chief customer officer, Mike Fanucchi, told reporters on the sidelines of the mining Indaba conference in Cape town.
Transnet, which operates much of Africa’s rail network, the bulk of it in South Africa, aims to move 11.5 million tonnes of coal in the financial year starting in April this year and 14 million tonnes in the following year.
