Tau Morwe, CEO of the state-owned operator, said the decision has been made based on the need to create additional capacity. Delivering his keynote address at the Africa Ports and Harbour Congress in Johannesburg yesterday, Morwe said South Africa's transport capacity hasn't kept pace with economic growth.
``We have to create additional capacity,'' Morwe said. Container traffic at Durban, the country's biggest port, is rising by 10 to 12 percent a year, he told delegates.
To meet the growth, the port authority will spend about R3 billion in the year that started April, reports Bloomberg. Transnet is already deepening berths at Durban harbour and installing new cranes at Cape Town.
The investment will ultimately increase capacity and reduce freight costs at the country's ports. Transnet will also address congestion arising from the inefficiency of South Africa's rail system. "What we are now beginning to see in Durban is congestion on the land side rather than on the water side," he said.
South Africa has six ports owned by Transnet Port Terminals - in Durban, East London, Richards Bay, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town and Saldanha. The new Port of Ngqura which forms part of the Coega Industrial Development Zone in the Eastern Cape will join the existing ports along the country's coastline in 2009.
According to Transnet Port Terminals an estimated 90 percent of all SADC trade passes through South African Ports.
