‘Dig-out port must be public/private venture’

The proposed R100-billion dig-out port on the old Prospecton airport site at Durban should be a blend of the public and private sectors in both investment and management, according to Professor Trevor Jones, former head of the School of Economics at University of KwaZulu-Natal, and now busy establishing a maritime law faculty at the varsity. The future challenges for the new port, he told FTW, are: Who will pay for the new capacity, and who will manage it – and how effectively? He described the idea of a combined municipal and Transnet relationship on ownership as “fanciful”, but stressed a more powerful partnership with private investors as being a desirable way to go. On the management side, Jones was rather sceptical about Transnet ever wanting to let go of its current dominance in terminal operations, but agreed with FTW that private sector management of terminals was one possible means of achieving more efficiency. On the future operation of the dig-out port, he suggested that much stronger Transnet/city/port users’ relationships were the way to “unlock port value”. Jones added his name to a long list of FTW contacts who, over the years, have proposed two desires: private sector involvement, and competition in the ports’ operations. On the government side, the first mention in recent years of private business playing a role in port management was when Alec Erwin, then minister of trade and industry, hinted that this might become part of ANC policy. But he proposed this purely on a “public/private partnership” basis. This idea, though, faded into the background as time went by, largely because of opposition from union body, Cosatu – which suggested that this could lead to job cuts. However, the concept has been resurrected in recent times, but more hinted at than firmly proposed. In his Budget address, for example, finance minister Pravin Gordhan said that “no good project” would be short of funding and indicated that there was a role for the private sector to play in the delivery of infrastructure. But he did add management to investment, when he said: “Private sector capacity can also be mobilised through construction and operating concessions – for example in the management of industrial development zones, freight logistics and ports operations.” In a more direct proposal, Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) CEO, Karl Socikwa, suggested that TPT was planning to bid, possibly with partners, for the right to operate any possible new terminal capacity that could arise should SA proceed with the development of the dig-out port. He added that its volume projections indicated that additional container terminal capacity could be required by as early as 2019, notwithstanding current initiatives to bolster the capacity of the Durban Container Terminal (DCT) – and this fits with the 2017/18 deadline date for the opening of the dig-out port. He said that TPT would “fight” for the opportunity to participate in what could become a future key “gateway” harbour. Jones agreed, describing the dig-out port site as the front runner in future capacity/demand balance at the port city of Durban. It’s the “right choice” he said, and has a “less saturated immediate port area and good intermodal links”. He saw it as offering “real capacity enhancement” and adopting the role of a “hub port”.