Afgri to take over two Transnet port facilities

Afgri has won a tender to take over some operational aspects at two Transnet grain-handling facilities in Durban and East London harbours, according to Jacob de Villiers, chief financial officer at Afgri’s operations division.

Speaking to Farmer’s Weekly,

De Villiers said the company would be taking over “landside operations” with oversight from Transnet, while Transnet would retain the quayside operations.

“The focus will be on white and yellow maize, wheat, barley and soya bean. At this point in time, Durban will handle both imports and exports, but East London only imports. The intention is that [after] the upgrading process at East London [is completed, the harbour] will also be able to handle exports,” he said.

The Durban harbour was currently handling 400 000t to 500 000t of grain a year, and it was the intention to increase this to about 1,1 million tons. East London’s harbour was handling about 80 000t to 100 000t a year and it was hoped to increase this to about 600 000t, De Villiers said.

“South Africa imports and exports more than four million tons of grains annually through its ports. Unlocking the full potential of the port facility will lower the cost of imported grains, such as wheat and barley, and will directly benefit the consumer by making food more affordable.

“It will also stimulate local production if we are able export grains cheaply. This in turn will make us more competitive in global markets,” he said.

“Finding export markets will be a huge benefit to local producers,” De Villiers added.

Afgri would be expected to upgrade the two port facilities to such a level that it would unlock the full potential in terms of capacity.

In exchange for the capital spent, Afgri would receive a 15-year concession to manage the facilities to enable it to recover the capital spent on the upgrades.

“During our initial assessment, our estimate was that approximately R100 million will have to be spent to achieve the requirements set down by Transnet,” De Villiers said. –