Ngqura to get R6bn fuel storage facility

Huge project to be completed in 2019, paving way for relocation of tank farm

NELSON Mandela Bay’s Port of Ngqura has been chosen as the site for a multibillionrand liquid bulk storage facility, with the work set to start in September.

Transnet National Port Authority (TNPA) said yesterday it had appointed an operator – Oiltanking Grindrod Calulo (OTGC) – to plan, part-fund, construct, maintain and operate the facility.

The project as a whole will be co-funded by TNPA and the terminal operator – which will operate the site for 20 years – to the collective value of nearly R6-billion.

The facility will not only generate significant employment and revenue, and complement the billions of rands being invested in the vicinity of the port at the Coega Industrial Development Zone (IDZ), but is also critical to the long-awaited removal of the fuel tanks in the Port Elizabeth Harbour.

Construction of the facility is expected to start in September and continue until June 2019.

It will be commissioned between June and July 2019 and the planned operational date is August 2019.

The total number of jobs created during the construction phase is anticipated to be 500.

“It will provide storage and marine infrastructure to support the overall petroleum demand projections for South Africa,” TNPA chief executive Richard Vallihu said.

It would also play a role as a new petroleum trading area and as a transshipment hub for southern Africa, positioned to serve the region along with major Asian and South American trade routes.

Vallihu said the port would play a vital role in ensuring the security of fuel supply and was also being undertaken in anticipation of the relocation of existing liquid bulk facilities from Port Elizabeth.

He said the agreement with OTGC was a key element in private-sector participation.

Bulk liquids such as petroleum, diesel, jet fuel, illuminated paraffin and liquid petroleum gas, will be transported to the port by sea and then piped to the facility, some for export.

It would include a new tank farm when the existing lease for petroleum storage facilities at the Port Elizabeth harbour expired.

“When the Ngqura facility becomes operational, the Port Elizabeth tank farm will be de- commissioned and the site rehabilitated, which will free up port land for future expansion plans at Port Elizabeth,” Vallihu said.

Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber chief executive Kevin Hustler said the facility was good for the region particularly with regards to the future waterfront development.

Hustler urged that the commitment to commission the facility during the June-July 2019 period be strictly adhered to.