According to Freight News, South Africa’s freight and port sectors are experiencing what the South African Association of Freight Forwarders (Saaff) and Business Unity SA (BUSA) – publishers of the weekly Cargo Movement Update (CMU) – have called a “defining moment of excellence”.
In a historic first, all nine key segments of the country’s freight industry tracked ‘in the green’ in the latest report. This marks the first time since the CMU’s inception that every sector has simultaneously recorded positive growth.
Jacob van Rensburg, head of R&D at SAAFF, told Freight News that the results indicate a broad-based recovery across South Africa’s logistics network, supported by renewed momentum in port performance. He noted that container volumes climbed by 18% month-on-month and 10% year-on-year, while bulk cargo and vehicle throughput surged by 26% and 57%, respectively – both setting post-pandemic and all-time records.
Van Rensburg attributed this rebound to targeted interventions by Transnet, including the deployment of new handling equipment, better co-ordination between hinterland and terminal operations, and stronger collaboration among logistics stakeholders. Together, he said, these developments represent a decisive shift toward greater reliability, competitiveness and energy across the freight system.
According to the CMU, all nine sectors posted gains for the week ending 12 October 2025:
- Domestic air cargo rose 1%
- International air cargo climbed 4%
- Vehicles jumped 28%
- Breakbulk grew 16%
- Liquid bulk increased 11%
- Dry bulk was up 8%
- Containers advanced 10%
- Rail freight on the Durban–Gauteng Container Corridor rose 24%
- Land transport edged up 1%
In its own statement, Transnet Port Terminals confirmed that the operator handled 100 158 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) and 27 879 fully built vehicles in a single week – both significant performance milestones. Notably, Ngqura Container Terminal reported a 60% improvement in daily moves, reaching 2 760 in one day.
TPT chief executive Jabu Mdaki said the terminal operator had broken 14 performance records in just six months, spanning container and automotive volumes, loading rates and train turnaround times. Some of these benchmarks, he added, had not been achieved in over a decade. “Exceeding the 100 000 TEU mark in a single week is something we’ve now done three times in this financial year,” he noted, adding that TPT has also narrowed shortfalls in key commodities such as magnetite and containerised cargo.
Mdaki described this as TPT’s defining moment of operational excellence, reflecting improved performance across all 16 national terminals and the four sectors in which TPT operates — containers, bulk, breakbulk and automotive.
He attributed the sustained gains to four main initiatives:
- Deployment of new equipment – including nine rubber-tyred gantry cranes each for Durban Container Terminal Pier 1 and Cape Town Container Terminal, 20 straddle carriers for Durban Pier 2, a ship-to-shore crane for Gqeberha, and over 200 haulers and trailers across the network.
- Focused maintenance, leading to fewer breakdowns and increased equipment uptime.
- Process improvements throughout terminal operations.
- People-centred initiatives, including a new fourth-shift system to enhance employee wellbeing and a refreshed incentive scheme to drive performance.
Together, these measures have helped reignite South Africa’s port efficiency and logistics resilience, signalling what Freight News describes as a turning point for the nation’s freight economy.
Reference: Freight News