BUSINESS FLEET AFRICA | February 2023
WWW.BUSINESSFLEETAFRICA.CO.ZA
TRANSPORT AND FREIGHT INDEX
The South African logistics sector, as
measured by the Ctrack Transport and
Freight Index, took severe strain during
December, clearly still reeling from the
aftermath of the crippling Transnet strike
in October. With all the commercial
ports affected at the time, extensive
backlogs were created, while the eco-
nomic damage subsequently spread to
other sub-sectors, such as Road and Rail
Freight as well as Storage and Handling,
all of which declined notably in the last
three months of 2022.
Air Freight was the only sub-sector
of the Ctrack Transport and Freight
Index that managed to record growth in
the fourth quarter of 2022. The Ctrack
Transport and Freight Index (Ctrack TFI)
declined by 3.5% on a monthly basis in
December, following monthly declines
of 1.9% and 2.3% in November and
October, respectively. On an annual
basis, the Ctrack Transport and Freight
Index ended 2022 only 2.9% higher than
a year earlier, which was a long way from
the 13.7% yearly growth rate recorded
as recently as August 2022.
“The South African logistics sector
was showing great promise and on track
for a record year, but unfortunately,
a continuous barrage of unforeseen
external factors stopped that from hap-
pening,” says Hein Jordt, Chief Executive
Officer of Ctrack Africa.
The detrimental impact of the
Transnet strike on the logistics sector is
most evident in the fact that five of the
six sub-sectors of the Ctrack Transport
and Freight Index declined notably on a
quarterly basis during the fourth quarter
of 2022. The Sea Freight, Rail Freight and
Pipeline sub-sectors of the Index were
hardest hit with double-digit declines,
while Air Freight turned out to be a ben-
eficiary of the other sub-sectors’ demise.
Overall, the Ctrack Transport and Freight
Index declined by 7.5% during the fourth
quarter, the worst quarterly decline since
June 2020, when the economy was still in
the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Looking back at 2022, the worst per-
forming sub-sector of the logistics sector
was indeed Rail Freight, which declined
by a notable 22.4% year on year. While
the impact of the Transnet strike was
a dominant factor in quarter four, the
further implosion of Rail Freight during
2022 has been a long time coming. The
ongoing underperformance of the rail in-
dustry, due to large-scale theft of copper
cables, insufficient maintenance, lack of
locomotives, corruption, derailments
and vandalism on freight trains, is per-
haps the most concerning development
of the year, given the ongoing negative
impact on the economy at large.
Companies in many sectors of the
economy have recently been reporting
that inadequate rail capacity and lack of
service delivery have been hampering
factors in production, trade and growth.
According to StatsSA’s Land Transport
Survey, payload for Rail Freight transpor-
tation had reached its lowest level since
2008, when data was first reported, and
now accounts for only 11.2% of total
freight according to the latest data point
recorded in October 2022. This ratio
reached a high of 29.5% in January 2015.
Based on an annual analysis, payload for
The South African logistics sector
ended 2022 on the back foot
Aug-14
Aug-15
Aug-16
Aug-17
Aug-18
Aug-19
Aug-20
Aug-21
Aug-22
Feb-14
Feb-15
Feb-16
Feb-17
Feb-18
Feb-19
Feb-20
Feb-21
Feb-22
Nov-14
Nov-15
Nov-16
Nov-17
Nov-18
Nov-19
Nov-20
Nov-21
Nov-22
May-15
May-16
May-17
May-18
May-19
May-20
May-21
May-22
30%
20%
10%
0%
-10%
-20%
-30%
2,9%
13,7%
4,3%
Graph 1 Ctrack Transport and Freight Index % change on an annual basis
CTRACK & ECONOMISTS.CO.ZA
Ctrack FTI sectors change on a quarter ago
Pipeline
-21,2
Sea freight
-18,2
Rail freight
-17,5
Storage
-9,2
Road freight
-4,0
Air freight
4,2
-25
-20
-15
-10
-5
10
Graph 2 Ctrack Transport and Freight Index components (% change on the previous
quarter)
CTRACK & ECONOMISTS.CO.ZA