In January, following a modest increase in December, the Ctrack Transport and Freight Index (TFI) experienced a notable decline, dropping to 119.3 from December’s 121.9, marking a 2.1% decrease.
The downturn observed in January is reminiscent of the challenges faced by the sector during the KwaZulu-Natal looting and flooding incidents, as highlighted in the index report.
The Ctrack TFI serves as a measure of South Africa’s performance across various transportation sectors including sea freight, road freight, air cargo, rail, pipelines, and storage and handling.
The report emphasizes that the abrupt decline in January underscores the persistent challenges confronting the transport and freight industry as 2024 begins.
Despite the setback, there is a silver lining as the index remains 5.1% higher than the same period last year.
Comparing January to the previous year, four sectors witnessed growth while only road and air freight contracted.
In January, five out of six sectors experienced declines compared to December, with sea freight being the only sector to expand.
Following a decline in October and November due to port congestion, the sea-freight component rebounded in December and further increased by 2.8% in January.
The road freight sector, the largest among the sectors, faced numerous challenges in the latter part of 2023 and saw a sluggish start to the new year, declining by 1.2% in January compared to December.
Heavy vehicle traffic on major routes like N3 and N4 also declined, reflecting a broader slowdown in road freight possibly indicative of the overall economic performance.
The air freight sector, which had shown a positive trend, experienced a 3% decline in January, largely due to reduced chartered cargo flights.
After a brief increase in October, the rail freight sector returned to its previous levels, declining by 7.6% in January.
Similarly, the storage and handling sector saw a 1.7% monthly decline in January but remains 15% higher than a year ago.
Lastly, the transport of liquid fuels via Transnet Pipelines decreased by 2.1% in January, though still showing a yearly increase of 9.9%.