Transnet National Ports
Authority (TNPA) is
positioning the ports of
Ngqura and Port Elizabeth
under the banner of “Nelson
Mandela Bay Ports,” with
the two complementing each
other.
TNPA chief executive
Tau Morwe told a business
breakfast in Port Elizabeth
last week that the vision of
the landlord was to position
Port Elizabeth as the leading
sub-Saharan automotive hub,
and Ngqura as the leading
manganese exporting facility
and sub-Saharan transhipment
hub.
Transnet has budgeted
R25.9-bn investment in the
two ports and East London
packaged as the ‘South
Corridor’.
Addressing perceptions that
Durban was being favoured
over the Eastern Cape ports,
Morwe was candid. “The
officials in Durban are more
bullish. When they say they
are going to do something,
they go out and do it. That is
what makes them different to
other provinces.”
He was reinforcing
comments that other Transnet
officials have shared privately
with FTW.
Investment in Ngqura
and Port Elizabeth could be
increased as TNPA is now
considering providing space
for ship repair facilities in
Ngqura.
There is a gap in the market
for the servicing and repair of
oil rigs operating off the east
and west coasts of Africa.
Port Elizabeth will be
modernised and deepened
to handle 1.5 million TEUs
a year by 2019 based on
projected market demand, Port
Elizabeth port manager Rajesh
Dana told the meeting.
Over R8.2 bn will be
invested in the port of Ngqura
to build a liquid bulk terminal,
a 22-million-ton-a-year
manganese terminal, and two
general cargo berths, Ngqura
port manager Mpume Dweba
added.
CAPTION
Tau Morwe ... ‘Investment in
Ngqura and Port Elizabeth could
be increased.’
