Transnet trains are being diverted by a “ghost train” syndicate. The syndicate has paid employees up to R50m in kickbacks, according to the Sunday Times.

The operation is run on the Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) north corridor between Mpumalanga and Richards Bay by a network of employees, together with freight logistics middlemen. They divert empty freight trains to customers not billed by TFR.

Using legitimate orders paid for by mining companies, the syndicate then adds more trains to those orders and diverts them to middlemen, who offer them to other customers at reduced rates. The trains are dispatched from various depots in Mpumalanga and Limpopo.

Twenty-five ghost trains were run on the coal corridor between December 2022 and January 2023. Those who participated in the scheme earned between R1.5m and R2m a train.

Exxaro spokesperson Ling-Ling Mothapo said: ‘The cancellation of the trains presents an opportunity cost, as we missed an opportunity to export tonnes in an already constrained logistics environment’. The scheme arose when coal prices spiked at the start of the Ukraine war.

TFR runs up to 25 coal trains a month. A full payload pays Transnet up to R5m a trip, depending on the size of the train. Theft of this magnitude requires the complicity of workers at dispatch, port side and control.

Brendon Hubbard, a senior fund manager at ClucasGray investment Management, said, ‘The solution is blindingly obvious — it’s installing trackers. It doesn’t cost a lot of money to install trackers on trains. Most countries in the Southern African Development Community, including Zambia, have installed trackers on their trains. At the root of the ghost trains is management dysfunction at Transnet under Portia Derby, the CEO’.

The Minerals Council estimates an extra R151bn revenue could be generated if TFR was operating at nameplate capacity.

source:Transnet’s ride to corruption with “ghost trains” – Daily Friend