CAPE TOWN: South Africa plans to invest around 48.4 billion rand ($3.2 billion) in capacity expansion at its major commercial ports over the next seven years to support a projected 4 percent annual increase in cargo volumes over the period. Capacity demand at the nine major ports will reach 314 million tons per year by 2022, up from 255 million tons per year in 2015, according to Transnet, the country’s national ports authority. That figure is expected to rise to 543 million million tons per year by 2046, with particularly strong growth in demand for containerized and liquid bulk cargoes over the coming three decades.
At 82 million tons per year, coal exports currently account for the largest share of throughput at the country’s ports, followed by iron ore at 62 million tons per year. Containerized imports and exports combined and liquid bulk account for around 35 million tons per year each. South Africa’s ports handled a combined national total of around 5 million 20-foot-equivalent units in 2015, a figure forecast to grow to 6.4 million by 2022 and 13.9 million by 2046.
Durban, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and the Port of Ngqura are South Africa’s container gateways. Given its relative proximity to Gauteng, South Africa’s financial, industrial and mining hub, the port of Durban accounts for more than 65 percent of total container demand in the country, a situation the port authority expects will be largely unchanged in the future.
The biggest container project in the pipeline is at Durban, where 74 billion rand is to be invested in a new port and container terminal facilities in two phases. Cape Town and Port Elizabeth will also benefit from investment of 23 billion rand in new container handling support facilities.
The ports of Richards Bay and Saldanha Bay handle the lion’s share of South Africa’s coal and iron ore throughput. Although growth in demand for both commodities is expected to slow, an investment of 4.5 billion rand is planned for expansion of iron ore handling facilities at Saldanha Bay. Transnet expects manganese to account for the biggest increase in capacity demand for dry bulk over the next 30 years, boosted by the planned 2019 launch of a 6.6-billion-rand specialized manganese terminal at the Port of Ngqura.
Other major projects in the pipeline include an investment of 5.4 billion rand and 4 billion rand in ship repair facilities and breakbulk expansion at Richards Bay; a 4.3-billion-rand liquefied natural gas facility at Saldanha Bay, and a 7-billion-rand liquid bulk terminal at Ngqura.
Vehicle throughput demand in South Africa is dominated by Durban, Port Elizabeth and East London, each handling 71 percent, 19 percent and 10 percent, respectively. A combined 764,000 automotive units were handled by the ports last year, a figure projected to rise to 1.1 million by 2022 and 2.7 million by 2046. Funding for expansion projects will be split roughly 50-50 between the national port authority and terminal operators, Transnet said in its latest report on capacity demand and investment in the national ports system.
The high-level expansionary investment plan for the port system over the coming 30 years puts required investment at 228 billion rand, with Transnet providing 140 billion rand and the remaining 88 billion rand coming from terminal operators. Several locations for the development of additional deep-sea ports in South Africa are also identified in the report. These include Boegoebaai close to the border with Namibia, as well as Technobanine, located close to the border with Mozambique, around 70 kilometers (43.5 miles) from the Port of Maputo.
Technobanine has been linked to possible Chinese investment with the port envisaged to serve the neighboring countries of Zimbabwe, Botswana and Swaziland with container, dry bulk, liquid bulk and natural gas facilities on a 40,000 hectare (98,800 acres) site.
