Transnet welcomesproposed inland port

A new billion rand inland port in Johannesburg is being planned by a private sector company, and the Transnet reaction to this public/private partnership is positive, according to Dr Willie Els, of the development company, Inframax Holdings. The 630-hectare site for the new project, which will be called Tambo Springs, is 25 kilometres south-east of the Johannesburg CBD. There are plans to add at least a further 600-ha to this site to make it a world class inland port and logistics facility. Tambo Springs is to be developed in phases, and is expected to take about ten years to reach fruition. “The first phase is anticipated to involve an initial investment of plus/ minus R1-billion,” Els added. It is intended to supplement City Deep, where Els felt that the growth of the city around the terminal had made expansion and/or upgrading to accommodate new demands difficult. “City Deep still has a vital role to play,” he told FTW. “But the time has come to have it operating in tandem with a larger inland port or ports located on the new city periphery and able to accommodate a large, efficient, intermodal capability for road, rail and air transport. “This is fundamental to any 21st century freight operation.” The proposed logistics gateway is designed to help meet Gauteng’s need to increase the current capacity in-and-out of Johannesburg to 3-million TEUs by 2015 and 4-m by 2020. The new port has access to the N3 freeway to Durban, the N1 to Cape Town, via the R390 to Port Elizabeth and East London as well as freeways to the southern industrial centres of Heidelberg, Vereeniging, Vanderbijl Park and Sasolburg. The site is also only 22-km from City Deep and 25-km from the OR Tambo airfreight terminal. Els saw a relationship with the Transnet group and operational units as “absolutely critical”. “We have had discussions, mostly with the Transnet group’s railway planning executive, Francois Meyer. The bottom line is that, in principle, they are extremely supportive.” Indeed, the Tambo Springs development was one of three highlighted in Transnet’s recent presentation to parliament, joining other proposed schemes at Centre Rand, north-east of Johannesburg and Pyramid, north of Tshwane. “They recognise that these will come on stream progressively,” said Els. “But, within a 10-year horizon, they have got to expand their facilities significantly, and Tambo Springs is due to start construction in two years.” Transnet spokesman, John Dludlu, agreed that it was part of the group’s thinking. “What our presentation did was to outline the areas where we are considering public/private partnerships,” he told FTW. “And one of these was inland terminals.”