Ngqura gears up for role as sub-Saharan hub

“With growing pressure on the container sector and projections that demand for containerised cargo will double over the next eight years, Transnet has invested in excess of R8bn to date to position NCT as South Africa’s flagship terminal. Its projected end-state capacity is 2m teu. Currently the terminal boasts a capacity of 800,000 teu and by 2015 this will have increased to 1.5m teu,” said Solly Letsoalo, Transnet’s chief of operations.

When completed, the 60,000 ha terminal will include a berth with a 16.5 m draught alongside, enabling it to accommodate new-generation vessels of 8,000–9,000 teu. Coupled with quicker cargo-handling capacity, faster turnaround times and high-density stacking area promised by the terminal’s planned rubber-tyred gantry (RTG) crane operation, this will have tremendous economic spin-offs for the Eastern Cape region, according to Letsoalo.

Work is well advanced on the terminal buildings and supporting infrastructure. A four-storey administration building, temporary engineering workshop and reefer frames that will hold 1,680 reefer points are almost ready for handover later this year.