Find Transport expertise in South Africa

South Africa’s transport system is well established, with about 362,100 km of roads, just under a quarter of which are paved, and 20,047 km of railway lines, almost half of which are able to run electric trains. The rail network stretches as far as Zambia, and also serves some of the countries that directly border South Africa. The four primary ports are East London, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town and Durban, the latter being the most prominent because of its ability to harbour some of the larger, deep-sea vessels and because it has an extensive underground oil pipeline to its principal terminal. The major cities have international airports, with domestic airports found in many of the smaller cities. There has been a general move towards the restructuring and privatisation of the transport sector, but this has been strongly opposed and has therefore been a slow process. The relevant branch of the government is the Department of Transport. Its vision is neatly defined in its credo, ‘Transport, the heartbeat of South Africa’s economic growth and social development!’