Combined fruit and passenger facility
on track, writes Terry Hutson
PORTNET HAS named the preferred bidder for its proposed passenger and export terminal at the Port of Richards bay.
It is SAFreight, a black empowerment company which is part of the consortium that is presently building two tugs for Portnet at its Durban shipyards.
The combined fruit and passenger terminal is to be sited near the small craft harbour in Richards Bay. The fruit terminal is expected to handle up to seven million cartons of fruit a year, and this could help relieve the pressure on exports through the Port of Durban, where this year 28 m cartons were handled between May and November at Capespan's Durban Export Terminal alone.
However, fruit marketers will have to be convinced about the advantages of shipping through Richards Bay initially, although this should prove to be an attractive alternative for fruit growers in the Zululand and Swaziland regions.
The combination of fruit exports and passenger terminals also seems an inspired choice, as both 'seasons' complement each other. Passenger ships generally arrive in SA waters between November and April while citrus fruits, which form the bulk of all fruit exports, are available during the months of May to October.
The news that this project is going ahead may serve as a wake-up call to the Port of Durban, where plans for a new passenger terminal seem to be on the back burner.
Copyright Now Media (Pty) Ltd
No article may be reproduced without the written permission of the editor
To respond to this article send your email to joyo@nowmedia.co.za
