Port developments in Southern
African Development Community
(SADC) countries – such as Maputo
in Mozambique and
Walvis Bay in Namibia
– could provide muchneeded
additional
cargo handling capacity
and could boost the
region’s overall global
competitiveness, in
the view of Transnet
Port Terminals (TPT)
chief executive, Karl
Socikwa.
He dismissed the
perception that the
new port developments
could pose a threat to
South African ports,
telling FTW that there
was more cargo coming into the SADC
region than there was capacity to
handle it efficiently.
“We could work better with our
SADC port counterparts but we do
share a good working relationship. We
look forward to improved collaboration
to spread the cargo volumes across
the region, and in so doing, offer
better service levels to our regional
and international customers,” said
Socikwa.
He added that Grindrod Terminals
– which offered dry bulk
facilities in Durban,
Richards Bay, Maputo
and Walvis Bay – had
heightened its level of
engagement with all the
ports in the region, thus
facilitating improved
partnerships with the
respective terminal
management agencies
as well.
According to Socikwa
there are opportunities
for regional port collaboration around
several commodities, including bulk
commodities and vehicles. “As is well
known, there has been
a slowdown in demand
for commodities such
as iron ore and coal
but we’ve seen major
growth in manganese,
handling 40% more
volume than we
budgeted for in July,”
he said. Grindrod
Terminals had also
seen increased demand
for magnetite in the
region, he added.
Furthermore, the
port of Durban’s
ro-ro terminal was
constantly packed
to capacity and TPT would welcome
some cargo handling assistance from
Maputo, he said.
“We’d like to benchmark our
collaborative efforts with some of the
European Union (EU) ports which
have had great success in
sharing cargo volumes to
the benefit of the region,”
commented Socikwa.
INSERT & CAPTION
We’d like to
benchmark our
collaborative efforts
with some of the EU
ports which have had
great success in sharing
cargo volumes.
– Karl Socikwa
CAPTION: The ro-ro terminal at the port of Durban is constantly packed to capacity.
