Separate operators will handle Coega’s breakbulk and containers

Consortium including PON still in negotiations Ed Richardson AT LEAST two separate operators will be responsible for breakbulk and container handling at the port of Ngqura in the Coega Industrial Development Zone. National Ports Authority project director Kgoadi Malatsi says French aluminium company Pechiney has signed a 25-year agreement to operate the bulk handling facilities at the port. Pechiney, which plans to establish a 460 000 tons a year aluminium smelter at Coega, will put up the superstructure to handle the offloading of ore and loading of break-bulk cargo. Malatsi says the ore bulk quay in the first phase of Coega will be dedicated to Pechiney. The second quay, which will handle the export of aluminium ingots, will be capable of handling other “more general” cargo, he says. The NPA is engaged in negotiations with Codeco, a consortium which includes P&O Nedlloyd, to invest in the infrastructure needed for the two container terminals at Ngqura. The port will have an initial capacity of 430 000 TEUs a year. The first container ships are due to call late in 2005.