PE sets stage for auto hub

A second transit shipment of vehicles which are being routed from Port Elizabeth to Lagos and Tema is laying the foundation for the establishment of a regional vehicle transit hub in the port city.
Nearly 100 new and second-hand transit vehicles were offloaded last week from the MOL Emerald Ace, which is the biggest ro-ro vessel to call on Port Elizabeth – and of the first new-generation “solar hybrid” vessels.
Second-hand vehicles can be accommodated because they remain in bond in the port. Customs regulations state that second-hand transit vehicles have to be carried off-wheel through South Africa.
“This is a significant milestone towards reaching the Transnet National Port Authority’s vision of developing Port Elizabeth as a regional vehicle transhipment hub,” port manager Rajesh Dana told FTW during a tour of the Emerald Ace.
TNPA’s plan is to transform the current manganese ore and fuel terminals in Port Elizabeth into a vehicle hub when the two facilities are moved to Ngqura in around 2017.
Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) has signed a one-year contract with Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) to use Port Elizabeth as a vehicle transit hub, according to Stephanie Paul, operations manager of the Port of Port Elizabeth.
Volumes will be dependent on demand and the routing of vessels.
The Emerald Ace called on Mombasa, Dar Es Salaam, and Durban before Port Elizabeth on her current voyage. She left Port Elizabeth for East London to load around 2 400 Mercedes Benz cars for the North American market.
Dana says the vehicle terminal will “leverage off Ngqura,” which is currently Transnet’s preferred container hub for Southern Africa.
“We can offer common services which will straddle both ports,” he says.
The Port Elizabeth Car Terminal has parking for 5 000 units, with a handling rate of 177 units per hour during the previous financial year. A total of 128 768 FBU (Fully Built Up) units was handled through the PE port during the same period, according to Siya Mhlaluka, general manager of TPT Eastern Cape Terminals.
Launched a year ago in June 2012, the Emerald Ace can carry 6 400 passenger cars on 12 levels, and has moving decks which can be raised to accommodate “high and heavy” vehicles.
It has “zero emissions” in port as it is powered by lithium-ion batteries which are charged by 786 solar panels on a 1000 sqm of deck. The batteries can store up to 2.2 megawatt hours, enough to power 160 single-family households for a day.
According to captain Kanegae Junichi, master of the vessel, this results in a saving of around a third of a ton of diesel fuel a day while in port.
On the open seas the vessel is one of the fastest in the MOL fleet, with a top speed of 21 knots and a normal cruising speed of 17 knots. “But we can travel consistently at 21 knots if needed,” he says.