Cruise terminal tenders out

Tender documents for the new
cruise-passenger terminal in
Durban have been issued, with
the preferred bidder due to be
announced next April.
It falls under Section
56 of the National Ports
Act 12, which mandates
Transnet National Ports
Authority (TNPA) to enter
into agreements with private
companies to design, develop,
construct, maintain and
operate facilities to ensure the
provision of port services.
After two disastrously
underbid previous tenders
– in which the sole bidder
for the second was declared
“administratively and
substantially non-responsive”
by TNPA CE, Richard Vallihu
– the port’s major cruise
operators, MSC Cruises, will
definitely be taking part in the
third.
The company has already
played a major role in the
upgrading of the port’s N-Shed
ahead of the 2015/16 cruise
season. But, despite all this, the
whole cruise terminal area is
still a tatty substitute for what a
modern luxury cruise terminal
should be.
And MSC Cruises marketing
director Allan Foggitt agreed,
pointing out that they had been
crying out for the new facility
since 2010.
In the previous two bids,
he told FTW, MSC had taken
an interest in the first, but
not the second, “due to time
constraints”. But his company
is definitely interested in this
third. “We have all the tender
documents, a veritable Yellow
Pages directory of conditions,
but we’re well into it.
“There’s the matter of getting
plans together and construction
contractors, but operations is
the main part, and we’ll handle
that.”
The extent of the
development, according to
Foggitt, was the hurdle MSC
faced in the first bidding
procedure. “The tender
document was full of onerous
conditions – like hotel
developments and a shopping
centre,” he said. “As cruise
operators, we’re not hoteliers
or retail operators. That’s
outside of our scope.
“But in the new tender
document, these have been
eliminated, so it’s much more
feasible for us.”
Indeed, TNPA’s original
2010 plans for the terminal
were so grandiose that
former TNPA boss
Khomotso Phihlela said it
would cost up to R2 billion.
And even for the second bid
TNPA still rated the cost at
R800m.
But this third? “It’ll cost
upwards of R100 million,”
said Foggitt.
CAPTION
The MSC Sinfonia is a regular at the cruise terminal.