Name of the Project
Ngqura liquid bulk terminal project.

Location
Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, South Africa.

Project Owner/s
The Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) concluded an agreement with Oiltanking Grindrod Calulo (OTGC) in 2016 to plan, fund, build, own, maintain and operate a new liquid bulk handling facility at the Port of Ngqura.

Project Description
The project is one of the Section 56 initiatives that the TNPA has identified to encourage private-sector participation as a key element of the company’s Market Demand Strategy (MDS). It will provide storage and marine infrastructure to support the overall petroleum demand projections for South Africa.

Phase 1 will cater for dedicated jetty pipelines, bulk storage of up to 200 000 m3 and final capacity of 790 000 m3, road loading with a vapour recovery unit, state-of-the-art firefighting facilities and site drainage facilities. Provision has been made for the receipt, storage and distribution of liquefied petroleum gas.

The infrastructure will be designed to accommodate vessel sizes of up to 100 000 deadweight tonnage, road-loading facilities, intertank transfer/recirculation facilities, stock accounting in real time, office facilities for customers and an independent laboratory.

Phase 2 includes the landside development forming the link between the tank farm and the berth. The port authority will provide infrastructure for the new OTGC tank farm by equipping Berth B100 to function as a liquid bulk berth. It will also build a new access road from the tank farm to the berth. TNPA will provide all the associated services and build a new port entrance on the eastern side of the Couga river.

The liquid bulk facility at the port includes the loading and offloading facilities at Berth B100, the services and equipment to perform operations at the berth, pipeline connectivity to the facility, as well as the buildings, tanks, structures, paving and surfacing on the 20 ha site designated as the liquid bulk facility.

Yearly throughput is expected to be about 1.25-million cubic metres. Future phases will provide for an additional 550 000 m3 of third-party storage capacity.

Potential Job Creation
An estimated 500 jobs are expected to be created during the construction phase, with a peak of 300 jobs to be created during midconstruction.

The total number of permanent staff required for the terminal is about 50.

Capital Expenditure
Not stated.

Planned Start /End Date
The planned commissioning of Phase 1 is at the end of 2020.

Phase 2 started construction in November 2018.

Latest Developments
The development of the liquid bulk terminal in the Port of Ngqura, in the Eastern Cape, has been “stalled”, OTGC has said.

“Stalled means it has been temporarily halted while the investor engages with stakeholders,” OTGC MD Nico Smit has explained.

TNPA awarded OTGC preferred bidder status in 2011 to develop a liquid bulk storage terminal in the Port of Ngqura, with the aim of servicing fuel importers in the Nelson Mandela Bay region.

The facility was intended to replace the existing terminal in Port Elizabeth.

The terminal was also to serve as a strategic alternative to the Port of Durban, in KwaZulu-Natal, and, to some extent, Cape Town, in the Western Cape, while relieving pressure on these ports.

Since the date of award, OTGC has been engaged in a variety of activities pertaining to the project, including negotiating a build, own, operate and transfer agreement; executing the engineering design of the terminal; obtaining commercial commitments from customers; negotiating funding with lenders and obtaining the required regulatory permits for the construction of the project.

Construction of the terminal started in 2019, with the earthworks already complete.

However, OTGC has warned that it has not been able to secure sufficient customer commitment for the project.

“There is considerable interest, but some potential customers, although interested, are not in a position to make a firm commitment at this time, which impacts on the viability of the project,” Smit has indicated.

“OTGC is, therefore, in a regrettable position that it is unable to execute on the project and is liaising with TNPA on the way forward.”

Smit says the contracts awarded to date (mainly bulk earthworks) have been completed and paid in full.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Toro Ya Africa Socrasync (port entrance plaza); SA Five Engineering (Berth B100 firefighting system); Phila Environmental Health & Safety (environmental specialist duties); Falcon (site security), JNR Lapere (health and safety agent) and CSV Construction (principal contractor for bulk earthworks).

Subcontractors include Rapid Impact Compaction, MB Fencing, Sanitech, Isidingo Security and Surplan.

Contact Details for Project Information
TNPA GM corporate affairs Lunga Ngcobo, email Lunga.Ngcobo@transnet.net.
Port of Port Elizabeth port manager Rajesh Dana, tel +27 41 507 1710 or email Rajesh.Dana@transnet.net.
OTGC, tel 27 31 304 1451, fax +27 31 305 2848 or email grindrod@grindrod.co.za.