'Long-term Coega is a natural hub'

When you examine long-term capacity of South Africa's existing ports there is insufficient capacity to meet the greater demand. In developing Coega/ Nqura, a rational solution to a complex problem, we are developing a port for the long term (2026) and our investment is justified by the expected 8% a year growth in container volumes and expected growth of 30-40% by the time the port is up and running. The greatest challenge facing ports in the next five years is the need for additional container capacity and where that capacity will be best located to minimise costs and maximise South Africa's potential as an exporter and global strategic player. A port-by-port examination of options available: CAPE TOWN. Too far from Johannesburg to make it viable. Also disadvantage of (poor) weather. RICHARDS BAY. No container handling capacity or direct link to Gauteng. Cost of providing and maintaining the type of major arterial road required will be prohibitive. DURBAN. Port is locked in by residential areas so cannot expand. It will run out of capacity by 2006 despite upgrade underway. High water draught (12m) only allows for ships up to 3 000TEUs. PORT ELIZABETH. (11m draft) Hard pushed to hit the 2 400TEU level. Increasing draught requires major rock removal at the harbour entrance and a complete rebuild of the breakwater. Due to physical limitations of the port it wll actually be cheaper to build afresh at Coega. COEGA. A deepwater port 12 nautical miles north-east of Port Elizabeth, it offers a maximum draft of 21m and also has space to accommodate a new generation container hub including container manufacturing and refurbishment. Transhipment is the way of the future in world shipping, moving increasingly to running on hub and spoke operations. Coega is strategically well placed to become a natural hub in southern Africa, allowing for larger vessels to call at one port and using smaller vessels as feeders to service other ports. With the block rail service to and from Gauteng this would create a 'hub and spoke'-type operation.