Income from freight transportation for September fell by 0.6% year-on-year (y/y) after increasing by 4.0% y/y in August‚ data from Statistics South Africa released on Monday (19 November) showed.

The y/y drop was in part caused by industrial action in the road freight sector in September that saw thousands of truck drivers going on strike.

The volume of goods transported slumped by 7.4% y/y in September after a 2.4% y/y drop in August.

Stats SA also noted that income from freight transportation increased by 3.5% y/y in the third quarter.

The main contributors to this increase were primary mining and quarrying products (8.6% y/y); ‘other’ freight (7.4% y/y); and basic metal and fabricated metal products (9.8% y/y).

The number of passengers transported decreased by 2.1% y/y in September. The corresponding income increased by 11.1% y/y.

Income from passenger transportation increased by 12.8% y/y in the third quarter of 2012.

Income from passenger transportation by road increased by 11.3% and income from passenger transportation by rail increased by 17.6% y/y.

The Gautrain extended its service from Pretoria to central Johannesburg in August 2011.