Transnet is looking for partners to help it fund and build port infrastructure but won’t give up the state monopoly in the rail and maritime sectors. Karl Socikwa, CEO of Transnet Port Terminals, told FTW that Transnet was looking for “partnerships to increase spend”. A public private partnership is being considered for the upgrade of the grain elevator in East London. Cleopatra Siceka, acting CEO of Transnet Freight Rail, said that there was a need for “public and private partnerships to enhance development”. Any partnerships must support broader economic transformation, they said. The organisation is committed to using its spending power to leverage transformation. It will insource services where it does not believe that there has been sufficient transformation. An example cited by Transnet National Ports Authority chief executive Tau Morwe is the provision of helicopter pilot services in KwaZulu-Natal. Because the service provider had not trained a single black pilot in 17 years it was decided not to renew the contract, but for Transnet to train up its own pilots. They should be operational within the next two years. “We are now training more helicopter pilots than SAA – not that we see ourselves as being in competition with SAA,” he said. Transnet “focuses on maximising expenditure with those suppliers who have the most optimal combination of technological capability, price and BBBEE status, thus empowering less-advantaged suppliers,” he said. But Transnet is not keen on competition. Morwe said there was a need for a state monopoly in the rail and maritime sectors in order to support growth in the country and region. Socikwa listed one of the future requirements as “the ability of the state to retain strategic control of the network in order to lead and direct infrastructure investment and the development of the supplier industry”. CAPTION The Port of Durban ... Transnet is not keen on competition.
