THUNGELA Resources Ltd. said Thursday that a strike at Transnet SOC Ltd. started today is likely to affect both rail and port services, and that it will interrupt railing operations to the Richards Bay Coal Terminal.
The London-listed, South Africa-based coal export company–a spinoff of Anglo American PLC–said that previous rail constraints have resulted in relatively high stockpile levels, and operations are able to run without rail for a further seven days without significant impact on production.
If the strike extends to two weeks, the group would be forced to curtail production, leading to a potential reduction of 300,000 tons of export saleable production, the company said.
However, Thungela said it expects a limited impact on fourth-quarter sales given that the Richards Bay Coal Terminal operates independently of Transnet.
The company also said it is working with other exporting companies to deploy additional security measures on the coal corridor given previous security issues.
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