German company moots major vehicle hub in East London

Leonard Neill AN INVESTMENT plan to make East London the major motor vehicle turnabout port in South Africa has been placed before Portnet by the huge German supply-chain management company BLG Logistics. South African officials are currently studying the plan in which a 50-50 share has been suggested by the overseas company. A project team from BLG is to be set up next month with Portnet says chief executive Detthold Aden who headed a group visit to the harbour last week. The aim, he says, is to have a full working arrangement in which the infrastructure will be established to enable East London to serve all the country's exporters as well as handle incoming traffic for distribution to the rest of Africa, either through transhipments or by road and rail overland. BLG currently handles the supply of components from Europe for Daimler/Chrysler's export drive, but is not, at this stage, involved in the shipping of the finished vehicles. Aden says, however, that BLG has vast experience in car and component shipping from its interests in the Eurogate container terminal and vehicle turnaround operations in Bremerhaven in Germany and Gioia Tauro in Italy. The likely amount to be invested cannot be disclosed at this stage, he said, but if the plan comes to fruition it will place East London on a par with the major car terminal ports in the world. Portnet officials in East London confirmed they were fully aware of the talks but were awaiting further information from head office before making any comment. At the same time Daimler/Chrysler, which has declined to comment until further details have been thrashed out, is expecting to export 39 000 right hand drive Mercedes Benz C-class vehicles to the UK, Australia and Japan from its factory on the East London harbour West Bank by the end of this year. Other manufacturers have been in regular contact with East London port authority officials regarding the use of the harbour as an export facility. Plans are on the table for the enlargement of the present vehicle terminal building, the only one of its kind in the southern hemisphere, while Portnet is currently studying a project to build a large new container terminal on the West Bank where space is available. Overall South African car exports are expected to reach 98 000 this year, totalling R9,5 billion, with vehicle component exports expected to reach R11 billion.