BUSINESS FLEET AFRICA | June 2023
WWW.BUSINESSFLEETAFRICA.CO.ZA
TRANSPORT AND FREIGHT INDEX
The South African logistics sector
continued its recovery during April,
with the Ctrack Transport and Freight
Index (Ctrack TFI) reaching its highest
level since August 2022 at 121.5 points.
The Ctrack Transport and Freight Index
increased by 1.4% compared to March,
the fourth consecutive monthly in-
crease, confirming a fairly synchronised
recovery. In addition, four of the six
sub-sectors that make up the Ctrack
Transport and Freight Index increased on
a monthly basis, while the two sectors
that did decline only did so marginally.
On an annual basis, the Ctrack Transport
and Freight Index is tracking 5.6% higher,
compared to the 3.2% year-on-year
increase measured in March, which is
evidence of encouraging momentum
building in the sector.
“Despite all the challenges affecting
South African consumers, the continued
growth of the majority of sub-segments
of the South African logistics sector show-
cases that even in tough times, there will
always be a need to transport goods and
commodities, but this needs to be done
in the most effective and efficient manner
possible,” says Hein Jordt, Chief Executive
Officer of Ctrack Africa.
Similar to the observation in March,
four of the six sub-sectors still declined
on an annual basis, though the overall
index level increased by 5.6% compared
to a year earlier. Among the sub-sectors,
Road Freight remains the most resilient,
growing by 14.8% year-on-year during
April 2023. Volumes transported via
pipelines have also increased consis-
tently in the past few months, with the
annual growth rate now marginally
positive at 0.3%. The performance of
three of the four sub-sectors, including
Rail Freight, Storage & Warehousing
and Sea Freight, which remain below
levels of a year ago are indicative that
the cumulative negative impact of the
KZN flooding in April 2022 and Transnet
strike in October 2022 is still being felt.
Air Freight performed well last year but
has recently moderated somewhat on
an annual basis.
The Storage and Handling sub-sector
of the Ctrack Transport and Freight
Index was under pressure for most of
2022 and underperformed compared to
the broader logistics sector. However,
the sector turned out to be the star
performer during April 2023, with a
notable 9.8% increase compared to
March. The inventory index of the
ABSA Purchasing Managers Index (PMI),
compiled by the Bureau of Economic
Research, reached the highest level
since mid-2022 (58.8 index points vs
47.6 in March), as did the inventory
index that forms part of the South
African Chamber of Commerce and the
Industry (SACCI) Trade Conditions Index
(42 index points vs 35 in March) as well
as the number of containers in tran-
shipment across all container terminals
in the country.
It is currently unclear whether the
rapid rise in inventory levels is due
to improved delivery of goods, weak
demand or disruptions in the production
process due to electricity shortages.
Despite the improvement in April, the
Storage and Handling sub-sector of the
The South African logistics sector
continues its recovery
70
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120
Jul-18
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130
Graph 1 Ctrack Transport and Freight Index
CTRACK
Road
14.8
Pipeline
0.3
Air
-1.3
Sea
-6.0
Storage
-8.3
Rail
-9.3
-15
-10
-5
10
15
Graph 1 Annual growth in sub-components of the Ctrack Transport and Freight Index (%)
CTRACK