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
TNPA and OTGC have said that they are on track with developments at the Port of Ngqura, with the commissioning of the new liquid bulk tank farm planned towards the end of 2020.

The TNPA has said that environmental search and rescue activities have been completed by Zingce Environmental Solutions, which was awarded the contract in November last year. Additional environmental services were undertaken by Keokoma.

The environmental activities to prepare the site for construction included the removal of indigenous and endangered plants and animals.

The TNPA states that about 6 000 plant species were rescued and relocated to a temporary nursery site and other protected open spaces in the port area from 2016 to 2018.

In March, another 1 567 plants, representing 41 different species, as well as various mammal, reptile and insect species, were successfully relocated.

OTGC has also completed the archaeology report on the site. Palaeontology inspections and bulk earthworks for the ground and platform preparation are ongoing.

Three of the main construction work packages have been awarded.

The TNPA, meanwhile, has said that the new tank farm in the Ngqura port will demand the decommissioning of the existing liquid bulk facilities in the port. After commissioning of the facility, the Port Elizabeth Tank Farm operators will wind down operations over a four-month period, which will be followed by rehabilitation.

The ports authority adds that it and the operators are finalising a decommissioning and remediation plan, which has to be approved by the Department of Environmental Affairs.

TNPA estimates the decommissioning and rehabilitation of the existing liquid bulk works to take between 36 and 48 months.

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.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

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.