Passenger numbers up, freight volumes down in SA land transport

South Africa’s land transport industry experienced mixed results in May 2025, with a decline in freight volumes but an increase in passenger journeys, according to the latest data from Statistics South Africa.

Source: ©Leon Swart via 123RF

The volume of goods transported declined by 3.7% in May 2025 compared to May 2024. The corresponding income also fell slightly, down 0.4% year-on-year.

Looking at the broader three-month period ending May 2025, income from freight transportation decreased by 0.9% compared to the same period in 2024.

Key contributors to this decline included:

• A 17.7% drop in agriculture and forestry primary products (contributing -1.0 percentage point); and
• A 10.2% decrease in container volumes (contributing -0.6 of a percentage point).

Seasonally adjusted data shows a 1.2% decrease in overall payload compared to the previous three months. Road freight declined by 1.5% (contributing -1.2 percentage points), while rail freight saw a modest 0.3% increase (contributing 0.1 of a percentage point).

Passenger journeys grow despite lower income

The number of passenger journeys increased by 8.7% in May 2025 compared to the same month in 2024. However, the corresponding income declined by 5.1% over the same period.

Seasonally adjusted figures for the three months ending May 2025 show a 0.6% rise in total passenger journeys. Rail passenger journeys rose by 3.0% (contributing 0.8 of a percentage point), while road journeys decreased slightly by 0.2% (contributing -0.1 of a percentage point).