Not that the miners are exactly suffering. Coal miner Exxaro last week reported its profits increased by more than 50% for the year to December. It could have earned much more but for the woes at Transnet Freight Rail which forced Exxaro to cut production at its coal mines by 10%, costing it R5bn or so in lost export sales. Likewise African Rainbow Minerals, which last week reported that its coal earnings increased thanks to higher export thermal coal prices. But this was offset by lower sales volumes due to Transnet Freight Rail's "logistics challenges". Thungela, the thermal coal exporter that was spun out of Anglo American in 2021, has yet to report results. But it has also flagged Transnet as a huge issue, warning the market in October that the rail operator's performance had got worse, despite hopes of improvement earlier in the year.