Avellon Williams
SOUTH AFRICA- In a first for South Africa’s national ports company, Africa’s biggest harbor will be partially owned and operated by the Philippines’ International Container Terminal Services Inc.
The company, known as ICTSI, has been selected as a partner to run and expand Durban Container Terminal Pier 2. A state logistics company, Transnet SOC Ltd, reports that 46% of South Africa’s total port traffic passes through the terminal, which accounts for almost three-quarters of the freight volume moving through the eastern port.
Transnet said in a statement Monday that this agreement is “a key catalyst for repositioning the Port of Durban as a container hub port.“
As a result of the poor performance of its ports, South Africa is trying to boost private participation in the sector. Durban ranked 364th out of 370 container ports in the World Bank’s 2021 port performance index, and two other Transnet ports ranked in the bottom ten.
Transnet will own 50% plus one share of an entity that will manage the terminal for 25 years and expand its capacity to 2.8 million twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEUS, from two million it said. Trade volumes at container ports are measured using TEUs.
Transnet intends to increase Durban’s total container capacity from 3.3 million to 11.4 million TEUs.
In total, six bidders sought the contract, including ICTSI, which operates terminals on six continents. It was not specified whether ICTSI would pay for its stake or whether the expansion would be funded by it.
Transnet said an announcement on Ngqura’s port will follow.
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