South Africa has turned the first sod at the site of the Port of Ngqura’s future liquid bulk tank terminal and main access road which welcomes the start of construction.
Speaking during the sod-turning ceremony, Mkhuseli Faku, Chairman of Oiltanking Grindrod Calulo (Pty) Ltd (OTCALULO) said new tank terminal is expected to provide storage and marine infrastructure to support the overall petroleum demand projections for South Africa.
“Having been awarded the concession to develop a liquid bulk storage and handling facility in the Port of Ngqura, OTCALULO is now embarking on the first phase of construction,” said Mkhuseli Faku.
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New Ngqura liquid bulk terminal
The new tank terminal will develop the Port of Ngqura’s liquid bulk capacity for commodities such as petroleum, diesel, jet fuel, illuminated paraffin and liquid petroleum gas. It was allocated 20 Ha and will be built to the highest international safety standards and provide exceptional service to its customers.
The project comes ahead of the planned decommissioning and rehabilitation of the existing liquid bulk facilities at the neighboring Port of Port Elizabeth, which will pave the way for Ngqura’s establishment as a new petroleum trading hub for Southern Africa.
Once operational, the terminal will facilitate substantially increased through puts over present volumes handled at Port Elizabeth due to Ngqura’s deeper draught which allows it to handle much larger vessels.
The terminal will be designed to accommodate vessel sizes of up to 100,000 deadweight tonnage and will include road loading facilities, inter-tank recirculation facilities, stock accounting in real-time, office facilities for customers and an independent laboratory.
Liquid bulk products
The new modern facility will service the oil majors, new entrants into the South African oil industry as well as international traders and all supporting the local shipping industry. Liquid bulk products will be transported to the Port of Ngqura via ship and piped to the tank terminal prior to local supply and/or local and global re-export.
Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA), who are providing the port infrastructure for the liquid bulk terminal, has already completed Phase 1 of the infrastructure required to service the site, including the detailed design of the new port entrance plaza and the new main access road, as well as the pipeline servitude that will form the link between the new tank terminal and the port.
The port authority will provide infrastructure for the new OTCALULO tank terminal by equipping Berth B100 to function as a liquid bulk berth. It will also construct a new access road from the tank terminal to the berth. TNPA will provide all the associated services and construct a new port entrance on the eastern side of the Couga River.
It is anticipated that 500 local jobs will be created during the construction phase of the project. The total number of permanent staff required for the terminal would be in the region of 50. The facility is expected to commence operations at the end of 2020.
