South Africa's Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) and its Mozambican counterpart, Caminhos De Ferros De Mocambique (CFM), reached an agreement to enhance cross-border train operations.

In 2022, the South African government announced an agreement with the Mozambique rail authority for the uninterrupted rail freight of chromium ores (chromite) and ferrochrome to the port of Maputo. The agreement is for an additional six 50-wagon trains in total, equivalent to an estimated volume increase of 800ktpy, and the removal of almost 200 trucks from the road. To start, the transportation of chromium products will be extended to three trains per day starting from 1 September.

TFR has been plagued by rail issues ranging from cable theft, vandalism, and the shortage of locomotives, resulting in major logistical disruptions for many supply chains flowing out of South Africa. Chromite and ferrochrome supply originates from the world’s largest chromite reserves in the Bushveld Igneous Complex and relies on logistic infrastructures to be transported to the ports of Richards Bay, Durban, and Maputo for export.

Due to ongoing rail disruptions, chromium producers have increasingly been relying on trucks to move products. According to export data from Transnet, plant-to-port logistics have been dominated by road freight, with trucking accounting for over 75% of ore and alloy movement. While rail use has increased from 5.2% in 2012 to 24.4% in 2020, it has declined to 17.2% in 2023 with the ongoing issues at Transnet.

The town of Komatipoort borders Mozambique and South Africa and is the main crossing for chromium products from South Africa to find their way to the port of Maputo, geographically closer to South African chromite fields than the designed export route via Richards Bay. Since 2010, exports through Komatipoort into Mozambique have increased by 563%, and since 2019 has been the main port of export for chromite from South Africa, with exports from both Richards Bay and Durban declining year-on-year since 2020.

China stands as South Africa's primary importer of chromite and ferrochrome. The increase in demand from Chinese smelters has been met with a surge in port ore restocking. This, combined with restricted supply from South Africa due to TFR logistics challenges, has led to a noticeable upswing in prices for both chromium ore and ferrochrome. Consequently, this price increase has provided significant backing for the trucking option embraced by chromium producers in South Africa.