'CT unlikely to cancel port equipment orders'

No talk of privatisation Ray Smuts CAPE TOWN container terminal manager Ian Bouwer has expressed confidence that the port will not follow Durban's lead and cancel equipment orders in the wake of port concessioning (FTW September 27, 2002). "There has been no talk of privatisation for Cape Town so we are not on the concessioning horizon. It is therefore in SA Ports Authority and Transnet's interest to ensure we have the right equipment in Cape Town," he told FTW last week. Around 30% of the country's container traffic goes through the Mother City. Leased stackers were being returned in anticipation of the arrival last week of two new seven-high stackers from a Transnet leasing company. Due for delivery next year are four straddle carriers at around R15 million apiece and two cranes in 2004 and 2006 at a cost of between R60 and R80 million each.