Morwe calls for regional collaboration to address infrastructure backlog

Africa’s port infrastructure backlog needs to be addressed at a regional level, Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) CEO Tau Morwe told delegates at last week’s Africa Ports and Harbours Conference in Johannesburg. Unnecessary competition between regions negotiating rates to appease customers needs to be replaced with infrastructural development programmes and focused collaboration between port organisations, he said. “While we are still addressing our regional issues, the world is changing. Vessel sizes are increasing. Our infrastructure and our approach need to reflect this – in Durban, for example, we have increased the depth of the port entry and berth sizes to accommodate the bigger ships we are now seeing. “Each of the ports has its own niche market, but we need to look at additional opportunities for trade in the areas around the ports where we can optimise the supply chain – oil rigs off the West Coast for example need to be repaired. This is business that has in the past passed us by on the way to Asia, but we’ve had three rigs in for repair in South African ports recently, generating significant economic benefits.” He believes that using the existing ports effectively and creating new infrastructure to take advantage of these opportunities should be the focus. Transnet’s approach to the challenges is to keep up with the pace of growth and to ensure that port capacity is upgraded to position South Africa as a regional trade hub for the rest of Africa. Morwe feels that there are additional opportunities to partner with private sector investors in this planned capacity-building drive. Creating capacity through infrastructural development goes hand-in-hand with encouraging widespread economic growth on the African continent, says Morwe. Reiterating remarks made by Sobantu Tilayi, executive head: centre for shipping services at Samsa, he said that there needed to be less reliance on trade with Europe, which is impacted by global economic factors. “Eleven African countries are ranked in the top 40 in the world, but most of the trade is in minerals shipped to other continents. We need to look at how we can utilise those minerals and resources to create a manufacturing hub within Africa.” CAPTION: Upgrading port capacity to position South Africa as a regional trade hub.