Merger creates giant SA port operator

Looking at concessioning involvement in rest of Africa TERRY HUTSON SOUTH AFRICA’S largest and oldest wharfside operators, South African Stevedores and Rennies Cargo Terminals, have merged into a single port operator business. Previously operating separately under the umbrella of holding company Bidvest, the new company, whose origin in South Africa dates back to the 1850s, is now known as Bidfreight Port Operations (BPO). “We felt that a closer affiliation with our holding company Bidvest and the branding of the Bidfreight division would add value,” explained Jannie Roux, BPO’s managing director. BPO operates in each of the South African ports but Roux says the company expects to expand into port operations elsewhere in East and West Africa, including taking part in the concessioning process now underway in the port of Lagos. BPO is already the largest private operator in the port of Durban with a number of key bulk and neo bulk terminals. It also operates in partnership with other stevedores and with SA Port Operations at the busy Durban Container Terminal. The company operates terminals at Richards Bay and undertakes stevedoring at all the South African ports. Parent company Bidvest has extensive operations worldwide employing more than 70 000 people - including port terminal operations in the UK and service, distribution and trading companies in South Africa, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.