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Thursday, May 7, 2009.

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Shannon O'Donnell.

Making headlines today:

On Thursday, State transport utility Transnet said that the construction of its 12-billion-rand new multipurpose pipeline from Durban to Gauteng would continue as planned. It would be completed and operational by December 2011, despite the regulator having turned down its 74,4% tariff-increase request.

But it warned that tariffs were now likely to spike even more substantially once the pipeline was commissioned, given that the tariff-setting methodology entitled it to recover the amount it had requested in its application.

Earlier in the week, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa refused Transnet's request for an average 74,42% pipeline-tariff increase for 2009/10. Instead, it instituted a tariff reduction of 10,38% for the financial year.

European airliner manufacturer Airbus has announced a further reduction in the number of A380 superjumbo aircraft that it will deliver this year. The company now says that it plans to deliver 14 of the double-decker airliners in 2009. The previous plan had been to deliver 18 A380s during this year.

This cut is in response to requests from customer airlines, who have asked that deliveries be deferred owing to the global recession. Originally, Airbus had planned to deliver 21 A380s this year, but that figure was reduced to 18 in January.

Last year the planemaker delivered 12 A380s and, in 2007, one, to client airlines. For 2010, the company simply states that it plans to deliver "more than 20" A380s.

Also making headlines:

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's warns that the second-round effects of the global crisis could hurt sub-Saharan Africa.
Banking group First National Bank enters into the telecoms market with a new voice and data offering.
A survey reveals that the majority of South Africans believe the country will be ready for 2010.
And, wireless firm Cell C users are up 34% but earnings are down.

That's a round up of news making headlines today. For more on these and other stories please visit engineeringnews.co.za.