South Africa Market

South Africa has a modern and well developed transport infrastructure. The roads are world-class. The air and rail networks are the largest on the continent. And the country's ports provide a natural stopover for shipping to and from Europe, the Americas, Asia, Australasia and both coasts of Africa.

 

The transport sector has been highlighted by the government as a key contributor to South Africa's competitiveness in global markets. It is increasingly being seen a crucial engine for economic growth and social development.

 

South Africa plans to spend R9-billion on improving and extending the transport infrastructure in nine host cities to cope with the massive influx of visitors expected for the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

 

Preparations cover major upgrades to the country's airports and improvements to the general transport system, including a taxi recapitalisation programme, the consolidation of passenger rail entities and the transformation of the bus industry.

 

Major shipping lanes pass along the South African coastline in the south Atlantic and Indian oceans. Approximately 96% of the country's exports are conveyed by sea, and the seven commercial ports are the conduits for trade between South Africa and its southern African partners as well as hubs for traffic to and from Europe, Asia, the Americas and the east and west coasts of Africa.

 

The state-owned Transnet National Ports Authority manages the country's ports. These are: Richards Bay and Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, East London and Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape, and Mossel Bay, Cape Town and Saldanha in the Western Cape.

 

Durban is Africa's busiest port and the largest container facility in southern Africa, while Richard's Bay is the world's largest bulk coal terminal. Taken together, South Africa's ports handled 183-million tons of cargo in 2007, and major upgrades are under way to increase handling capacity further.

 

An eighth commercial port, the Port of Ngqura, is being developed off the coast from Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape, with the first commercial ships expected to dock in the port by 2009. Nqura is set to be the deepest container terminal in Africa. It is a crucial part of Coega, one of South Africa's strategic industrial development zones.

 

South Africa's total road network is about 754?00 kilometres, 9?00km of which are surfaced national roads. The drive from Musina on South Africa's northern border to Cape Town in the south is a 2?00km journey on well-maintained roads.

 

Around 2?00km of the roads in the country are toll roads.

 

While the Department of Transport is responsible for overall policy, road-building and maintenance is the responsibility of the South African National Roads Agency as well as the nine provinces and local governments.

 

South Africa has an extensive rail network - the 10th longest in the world - connecting with networks in the sub-Saharan region.

 

State-owned Transnet Freight Rail is the largest railroad and heavy haulier in southern Africa, with about 22?00km of rail network, of which about 1?00km are heavy haul lines. The company's rail infrastructure, which connects the ports with the rest of South Africa, represents about 80% of Africa's total.

 

The government has embarked on a project to improve rail safety and revive train travel as a viable public transport option. In 2008, the government said it would spend R19.5-billion a year over four years on upgrading its ports and rail infrastructure, with nearly half of this going towards the freight rail industry.

 

The South African Rail Commuter Corporation operates the Metrorail commuter services in Cape Town, the Eastern Cape province, Durban, and greater Johannesburg and Pretoria, focusing mainly on poorer South Africans.

Tourists and well-heeled passengers can travel on the Blue Train, one of the world's most famous luxury trains, while Shosholoza Meyl transports about four million passengers a year between the country's major cities.

 

Services also connect to other southern African destinations in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Swaziland.

 

The Gautrain, an 80km rapid rail network, will connect Johannesburg, Pretoria and OR Tambo International Airport, easing congestion on the Joburg-Pretoria highway by offering commuters a safe and viable alternative to road travel.

 

The R25-billion project is a public-private partnership between the Gauteng provincial government and Bombelo Concession Company, a Canadian-French-South African consortium. It is estimated that the Gautrain will have created about 33?00 jobs by 2009.

 

Gautrain's 24 train sets of four rail cars each (96 rails cars in total) will travel at 160km/hour, 18 hours a day, together making around 135?00 passenger trips a day. Secondary transport to and from stations and nearby destinations will be provided by luxury buses.

 

There will be 10 stations, three of which will be underground. The underground tunnel section will be about 14km long and up to 96 metres below the surface in some places.

 

The first phase, the section between the airport, Sandton and Midrand, is expected to be complete in time for the 2010 Fifa World Cup, and the second phase by 2011.

 

More than 50 airlines, making around 230?00 aircraft landings and carrying about 33-million passengers a year, move through South Africa's 10 principal airports. These include three major international airports in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, as well as airports in Port Elizabeth, East London, George, Kimberly, Upington, Bloemfontein and the Pilansberg.

 

Twenty-one air traffic control centres support operations that cover 145 licensed airports with paved runways and more than 580 aerodromes with unpaved runways.

 

The semi-privatised Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) is responsible for overseeing infrastructure expansion at the country's airports.

 

In 2007, Acsa proposed a five-year capital expenditure programme of just under R20-billion, both to accommodate new generation aircraft and to handle growing passenger numbers.

 

Johannesburg's OR Tambo International Airport is Africa's busiest airport, with about 8.9-million departing passengers a year. It was named the continent's top performing airport by the Airports Council International in 2007.

 

Cape Town International, which has 3.8-million passengers departing a year, has been voted Africa's leading airport at the World Travel Awards for seven consecutive years.