Despite reported lobbying from the ports of Durban and Richards Bay, Ngqura remains the official transit hub port for Transnet, according to the 2009/2010 annual report. The two-berth Ngqura Container Terminal, the country’s latest greenfields deep-water port, commenced operations in October 2009 and had handled 78 400 TEUs up to 31 March 2010, according to the annual report. “The volumes were mainly for transhipments, which is aligned to Transnet’s strategy of developing the port of Ngqura as a transhipment hub,” according to the report. Transnet has invested R38-billion in the port to date. The transit hub strategy is working for Transnet. “Container volumes through South African ports performed better than expected, following a yearon- year decline that was limited to 4.5%,” said acting chief executive Chris Wells. “The better than expected performance was due to an increase in transhipment volumes, resulting from shipping lines reconfiguring their routes to counter the challenges of lower demand and rapid increases in shipping capacity and using South Africa as a transhipment hub, albeit a minor one at this stage,” he says.
