The Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) has backed calls for investment in the port. At stake is a planned milling and agro-processing belt in East London for grain coming from Transkei. “A fully functional grain elevator would seem to be necessary,” says (ECDC) CEO Sitembele Mase. Volumes through the port are being fired up by exports of coal from the Elitheni mine near Indwe. A total of 1.5 million tons of coal is due to be shipped out over the next 12 months. London-based Strategic Natural Resources, which negotiated the sale to Trasteel International, says it is in advanced discussions with Transnet Port Terminals about building coal handling facilities at the Port of East London. The first order represents less than 1% of the “already proven” Elitheni coal deposit, according to the company. Granite will also start moving through the port, with mining due to begin around Butterworth following successful trials funded by the ECDC. Mining company Bold Moves owned by entrepreneur Monde Tabata has discovered four new variants of granite in the Butterworth area. Tabata says the primary market is the United States. A factory to manufacture memorial stones, counter tops and building blocks is also planned for Butterworth. Another boost for the port would come from a planned Sakhisizwe biofuel refinery in Berlin. German airline Lufthansa has committed to purchasing oil refined from up to 600 000 tons of soybeans a year, according to Sylvia Charles marketing director of the Sakhisizwe Trust. According to Charles, engineers from the technology supplier Cimbria Sket are already working on a plant capable of producing 100 000 tons of soybean oil a year, followed by a refinery. Full production is scheduled to start in 2014. “We are in negotiations with farmers’ organisations to speak to their members about producing the beans. All the research shows that soybean production will not impact on food security, but will in fact enhance it,” she says.
