Last month, Transnet announced that the Philippine group International Container Terminal Services would take a 49% stake in the Pier 2 container quay at the Durban Port. This group would also upgrade and run it for 25 years. Transnet has already also set in motion a process to involve the private sector in operating the cargo docks at its ports in Richards Bay and Ngqura.
Now, the City of Cape Town has for several years been pleading with Transnet to also involve the private sector in operating its port and has again said that it will chat with role players to bring this about. According to Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, Cape Town harbour could deliver faster results because it’s obviously a significantly smaller harbour and easier to manage – easier to turn around than the Durban port.
It is really important for the people in Cape Town, as well as [for] the Western Cape provincial government, which has been driving it as well, because this port – even though it’s a much smaller port than Durban – is really the heart of the South African fruit economy. It is the fifth-biggest citrus exporter in the world out of this harbour.
A huge amount of agricultural exports [go] through the Cape Town harbour. So it’s really, really important to the Western Cape and the Cape Town economy. We can’t sit by; we have to get involved, said Geordin Hill-Lewis.
Source: moneyweb.co.za
