Photo caption:
Standing - Gert de Beer (Transnet); MEC Sakhumzi Somyo; Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Mayor, Athol Trollip.
Seated - Mohammed Abdool (Transnet); OTGC Chairperson, Mkhuseli Faku.
Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) appointed Oiltanking Grindrod Calulo Holdings to plan, fund, construct, maintain and operate a new liquid-bulk handling-facility at the Port of Ngqura. This Build, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) agreement was concluded in December 2016, after an open tender process. To mark the occasion, a ceremonial signing took place in Port Elizabeth on 4 May 2017.
The concept engineering design as well as the topographical and geotechnical survey have been completed and construction is due to commence in the fourth quarter of 2017, with commissioning planned for the third quarter of 2019.
Phase 1 of the liquid bulk facility will provide approximately 150,000 cbm of storage capacity for refined petroleum products and will replace the tanks currently in use in the Port of Port Elizabeth, which will be decommissioned and the land redeveloped. This is in line with Port Elizabeth’s plans to clean up the terminal facilities and develop the commercial and tourism sectors.
Future phases will provide for an additional 550,000 cbm of storage capacity and handling. The new modern facility will service the oil majors, new entrants into the South African oil industry as well as international traders – all supporting the local shipping industry.
Oiltanking Grindrod Calulo, a majority South African-owned level 1 BBBEE company, is an independent bulk-liquid-storage provider in South Africa. The Ngqura facility is a unique opportunity for the joint-venture partners as well as for the region.
For Oiltanking, it will be its first holding in a South African fuel terminal, whereas for Calulo, being involved in all aspects of the oil supply chain, it will be its first clean-products terminal. For Grindrod, the Ngqura liquid storage facility provides diversification into fuel storage and handling, and aligns with its coastal-tanker shipping through Unicorn Tankers.
The liquid bulk facility will create socio-economic benefits and will boost the Eastern Cape (Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality) economy. Besides generating local jobs during the construction phase of the project, the facility will provide permanent positions in the long term. It will promote skills development in the construction industry as well as empower the local BBBEE businesses. The region will benefit from additional tax income and local businesses from increased revenues.
Oiltanking GmbH is a subsidiary of Marquard & Bahls, a Hamburg-based, family-owned company that operates in the fields of energy supply, trading and logistics. Oiltanking is the second largest independent tank-storage provider for petroleum products, chemicals and gases worldwide. The company owns and operates 79 terminals in 24 countries within Europe, North and South America, the Middle East, Africa, India as well as in Asia. Oiltanking has an overall storage capacity of 21 million cbm.