TPT spells out plans for sub-Saharan hub port

TRANSNET PORT Terminals
is knuckling down to
the serious business of
determining the feasibility
of creating Africa’s first
container ‘hub’ to serve sub-
Saharan Africa.
Mark Gregg-Macdonald,
TPT’s chief financial officer,
and Mervin Chetty, TPT’s
chief strategist, spelt out the
plans at the organisation’s
annual briefing to the Cape
Town business community
last week.
Some of the finest
Eastern academic minds
have been engaged to
participate in the study, only
initiated about two months
ago. The result will be made
known before the year is
out, but Gregg-Macdonald
believes the time is right for
a hub, given that container
growth is set to double
by 2015.
Chetty makes the point
that in creating a hub
anywhere in the world,
it is paramount to create
capacity ahead of demand.
The benefit for shipping lines
is that they can rationalise
calls, as has happened in
Australia where a number of
strings have been cut.
“If you look at the
demand in East and West
Africa, there are a lot of
transhipments, particularly
on the West coast, including
much of the salt trade to
America, the Middle East and
other parts of the world.
If you consolidate that
traffic, it is certainly to the
long-term benefit of
shipping lines.
“Secondly, the fact that
the ‘corridor’ approach
in Southern Africa is now
becoming embedded, means
we need the equivalent on
the waterside.
“South Africa’s feeder
system needs to become
more dense and that it is
one of the challenges.”
Chetty says while a
specific port needs to
be identified for hub
status, a port like Ngqura
(Coega) with its developed
infrastructure would be best
suited. With its port draught
of 18 metres and 16.5m
at berth, “it is better than
some Asian and European
terminals”.
Fortunate for South Africa
is its location, in the middle
of the world map, presenting
an ideal opportunity for a
hub in southern-Saharan
Africa.
Chetty says of the hub
study: “Once we have
determined where, we need
to ask the question why; how
will it benefit our developing
economy and how will it
benefit sub-Saharan Africa?
“Becoming a hub port
needs a whole lot of other
economic support like
policies and incentives for
IDZs, which we already have,
but we need to step up
to the plate of developed
nations, so a lot of work
has to be done before we
are able to say ‘here is the
potential hub."
As to why it has taken
TPT this long to start
thinking in hub terms, Chetty
points to Transnet’s progress
since 2000.
“We needed to sort out a
lot of things first. You are not
going to create a hub when
your house is not in order so
putting our house in order is exactly what we have done.”