A well-informed source at the Tunisian National Railways Company (SNCFT) told Express FM that the company transported around 601,000 tons of phosphate and its derivatives during the first half of 2026 from the mining basin to the Tunisian Chemical Group (GCT) plants in Mdhilla, Skhira and Gabès, as well as to the Port of Sfax, averaging about 3,000 tons per day.
During the period, SNCFT transported 179,000 tons less than in the first half of 2025, representing a 22.95% decline, after nearly 780,000 tons had been moved during the same period last year.
The decline comes despite the Assembly of People’s Representatives (ARP) approving, in October 2025, a loan agreement between Tunisia and the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD) to help finance the rehabilitation and modernization of railway lines dedicated to phosphate transport.
The loan, worth 16 million Kuwaiti dinars (about TND 153 million), carries an annual interest rate of 3.75% and is repayable over 30 years. It is intended to support the rehabilitation and development of the railway network used for phosphate transport.
Part of the financing will be allocated to completing work on Railway Line No. 21, which links the governorates of Gafsa and Gabès over a distance of 129 kilometers.
The section forms part of a broader 190.5-kilometer railway rehabilitation project with a total estimated cost of nearly TND 500 million, covering additional lines in the governorates of Sfax, Gabès, and Gafsa.
