Name and Location
Port of Ngqura manganese export expansion project, Eastern Cape, South Africa.
Client
Transnet Port Terminals (TPT).
Project Description
The project involves the construction of a 16-million-ton-a-year manganese export expansion project at the Port of Ngqura, which is located within the region’s critical Coega special economic zone (SEZ).
Developed as an integrated rail and port solution, the project will include the upgrade and expansion of the rail network between Hotazel, in the Northern Cape, and Port Elizabeth, in the Eastern Cape; the provision of a new bulk minerals export terminal at the Port of Ngqura; and the commissioning of the two existing berths.
Rail infrastructure comprises the provision of new compilation yards, in Mamathwane and Coega (near the Port of Ngqura), new crossing loops and the lengthening of existing crossing loops en route to accommodate 200 wagon trains, maintenance and operational facilities, and monitoring equipment.
Terminal infrastructure at the port will comprise new bulk materials handling equipment, including stockyard, stackers, reclaimers and surge bins, roads, infrastructure services and buildings, as well as a train marshalling yard with an unloading system (tippler).
The project will include a conveyor system linking the stockyard with existing berths. The two existing berths in the port will be equipped with twin shiploaders to handle the manganese exports.
Value
Transnet has committed to investing R26-billion in the project over the next four years.
Duration
The front-end loading 3b (FEL3b) phase of the Ngqura project is expected to be completed by November 2015.
Thereafter, the project will progress to the construction of the FEL4 phase, where construction will be supervised until October 2018.
Latest Developments
TPT has thus far injected an estimated R14-billion into the development of the Ngqura container terminal at the Port of Ngqura. The terminal’s second-phase expansion is progressing to plan, with two additional ship-to-shore cranes and 18 rubber-tyred gantry cranes with supporting trailers have been commissioned.
TPT ultimately aims to boost the terminal’s handling capacity to 2.2-million twenty-foot equivalent units a year, enabling it to leverage its proximity to the Coega SEZ and providing further opportunities for back-of-port operations.
Up to 60% of the terminal’s cargo comprises transshipment products, while 40% is import or export products.
Key Contracts and Suppliers
Gibb, Fluor and Aecom (engineering, procurement and construction management).
On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.
Contact Details for Project Information
Transnet National Ports Authority, Margorie Makama, tel +27 41 5071957 or email Margorie.Makama@transnet.net.
Gibb (Port Elizabeth), tel +27 41 392 7500 or fax +27 41 363 9300.
Fluor, tel +27 31 581 4000.
Aecom, tel +1 213 593 8100 or fax +1 213 593 8178.