‘Private sector ready and willing to invest in EL port’

TRANSNET SHOULD consider handing the rail links
between the port of East London and Gauteng, as
well as the port of East London to local business and
government if it is not able to invest in the muchneeded
infrastructure upgrade.
This is the opinion of Dave Kirkman, Safmarine
automotive account manager and head of the local
office.
Kirkman, who has been part of various task
groups looking into the much-needed infrastructure
development, says Transnet should look for a willing
partner, such as the private-public partnership
between business and Buffalo City, to invest in the
port.
This follows statements by Transnet that it has
no plans for significant investment in either the East
London port or the rail link to Gauteng.
Kirkman is among those who believe this could
see a continued decline in the services that shipping
lines are able to offer out of East London.
Container traffic in and out of the port of East
London needs to be “balanced” in order to ensure
that direct weekly calls continue, he says. At present
the balance is heavily tilted to imports, with few
exports leaving by container.
The keys to the balancing of the traffic include the
upgrading of the port and the rail links to Gauteng.
Kirkman says the private sector is willing and able
to step in should Transnet not want to invest. “There
is a group of committed partners who would like to
talk to Transnet about the plans for the port in order
to seek a workable solution,” he says.
Advantages of the port of East London include
its ability to operate year round. “Because we use
ship’s gear, the wind doesn’t stop us. We are also
able to achieve up to 12 crane moves an hour, which
compares favourably to the 18 to 20 claimed for the
gantries in Port Elizabeth,” he says.
An alternative to deepening the harbour and
upgrading the container terminal could be to turn the
port into a dedicated vehicle hub. There would be no
need for deepening the channels as Ro-Ro carriers are
already making use of the port.
“There is an opportunity for us to model ourselves
on Bristol in Britain, for example, which has turned
itself into the car port for Europe. East London could
do something similar,” says Kirkman.
However, in the short term the need is to
bring more containerised export traffic through
East London.