Ramos responds to safety fears at PE oil tank farms

SAFETY ISSUES were top of
the agenda when Transnet
CEO Maria Ramos addressed
the media in Cape Town last
week ahead of her briefing to
the portfolio committee on
public enterprises.
In the wake of the recent
Island View oil tank explosions
in Durban (See page 4) she
had a ready response to
questions over a possible
repetition at Port Elizabeth’s
oil tank farms, situated right
next to prime residential
and tourist locations in
Humewood.
Port Elizabeth is a working
harbour and it is simply not
possible to move a port,
residential areas having
evolved around ports over the
last 100-odd years, she said.
Even so, Transnet remains
committed to ongoing safety
vigilance, issuing instructions
since the Durban incident to
ensure all fire systems are
operational.
Responding to the ongoing
dialogue over the need to
relocate the manganese
terminal at Port Elizabeth,
Ramos made it clear that it
was a question of economics.
“I know, for everybody in
Port Elizabeth, it’s a simple
matter of moving everything
to Ngqura, but the economics
don’t add up; that’s the reality.
Something has to make
economic sense and it does
not do so now.”