South Africa has allowed 11 private firms to operate trains on the country's freight rail network, the state company that manages the network said on Wednesday, part of a government drive to boost freight volumes and lift economic growth.

Transnet said in a statement that the private companies would operate on five strategic rail corridors, serving sectors including coal, manganese, containers, fuel and general freight.

The companies are ARC South Africa, The Railway Corporation, TLD Marine, MENAR, Sharp Logistics, Barberry, Grindrod, Minrail, IRACEMA, Motheo Logistics and Interlinks.

South Africa is trying to address logistics bottlenecks that have stifled commodities exports in Africa's biggest economy.

A projected increase of 24 million tonnes of freight capacity

The private companies are expected to introduce an additional 24 million tonnes of freight capacity to the network, with the potential to scale to 52 million tonnes over the next five years, Transnet said.

Some of the companies are aiming to start operations in 2026 and the others in 2027.

South Africa's government is pushing to increase annual rail volumes from approximately 180 million metric tonnes to 250 million tonnes by 2030.