Ngqura tender – smoke and mirrors?

Is Transnet National Ports Authority just going through the motions or is there a real chance of private sector participation at the Port of Ngqura? That’s the question being raised in the industry following a Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) statement that it believes it has the best team for the job when it comes to operating the container terminal at the Port of Ngqura. While TNPA has issued a tender for a terminal operator at South African’s newest and fastest-growing port, TPT has confirmed that it will not only be submitting a tender, but is confident about its chances of winning. “We firmly believe there is no one who can do a better job at operating the container terminal at the Port of Ngqura than us,” Karl Socikwa, chief executive of TPT, told FTW last week. “We have been operating the terminal since its inception and have a very smooth and efficient operation in place.” Commercial ship operations at the port began in October 2009 with TPT awarded the right to operate it. Earlier this year, however, government found the terminal operator did not have the necessary licences and that a tender had to go out for an operator for the container terminal. “There is a briefing session coming up around the tender and the necessary requirements and we will be attending. We are definitely going to be submitting a tender,” said Socikwa, who also welcomed the decision by government and TNPA to put the terminal out for tender. “We think we stand a very good chance because we bring a very unique element to the table and that is the fact that we operate several other terminals across the country, allowing us to offer a complementary service,” he said. “We don’t operate a container terminal in isolation but rather work across the country making sure we are able to address issues and challenges on a larger scale.” He said in that way if there was congestion in Durban they could move vessels to other ports or assign equipment to specific ports as and when required. “We don’t operate a terminal on its own. Ngqura is part of the bigger port picture and we believe that the fact that we run several container terminals gives us the edge.” Socikwa said in the years since TPT had run the terminal it had seen phenomenal growth. “We have seen an increase of 84% in the volume of containers handled at the port between February 2012 and February this year." INSERT & CAPTION We firmly believe there is no one who can do a better job at operating the container terminal at the Port of Ngqura than us. – Karl Socikwa