A commitment to sustainable business practice is embodied in the Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) philosophy. We are of the firm belief that our proven ability to sustain our business during the past three decades is the positive result of our focus on our economic, environmental and social performances, which supports our strategic approach to business.

One of South Africa’s key challenges is the need to transform the economy so that it reflects the country’s cultural diversity and democracy. During 2007 RBCT celebrated a historical milestone when we announced the eight successful applicants in respect of the nine million tons of coal export throughput capacity of the Phase V Expansion that was made available to aspiring Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) exporters.

The outcome of the process was firmly in line with RBCT’s vision for advancing black economic empowerment and achieving fully representative ownership and participation in the global coal market. Six BEE companies became shareholders of RBCT while the other two companies became long-term commercial users.. We recognise that sustainability is not an overnight occurrence but a continuous process that constantly generates challenges, some new, others recurring. Society’s quest for development that is sustainable will continue to present RBCT with opportunities and challenges which will be integrated into our overall business strategy.

Through the improved Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework we believe that our reporting practices promote transparency, enhance the clarity and credibility of our communication with our stakeholders, facilitate comparisons across various organisations and address issues that concern stakeholders.

Safety, Health and Environment

Safety, health and environmental performances are managed within the company through OSHAS 18001 and ISO 14001 management systems  as well as Behavior Based Safety programme

The backbone of our environmental approach is our Safety, Health and Environmental (SHE) policy which recognises that RBCT operates within an ecologically-sensitive, natural environment – characterised by the abundant plant and animal life. Bearing testimony to the health of the environment within which we operate is the flourishing Marine Reserve adjacent our site.

Our People
The people who work for RBCT are the foundation of our success. Employee issues are monitored through communication forums. Retention and productivity ratios and other relevant statistics are reviewed internally, as well as against external benchmarks and standards.

We are committed to building capacity and competences throughout RBCT and this is done through training programmes, skills development, our “Mission Directed Work Teams” and on-the-job training.

Community issues include the management of issues such as employment equity and Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE), as well as a focused Socio-Economic Development (previously the corporate social investment (CSI)) programme.

We are proud of the rich cultural diversity that we have achieved at RBCT, as we strive to ensure that our workforce is truly representative of the demographics of South Africa.