THE NATIONAL PORTS Authority (NPA) has taken out large advertisements in the local media proclaiming that “The Port of Ngqura is a Reality”. The R2,6-billion Ngqura port will service the Coega Industrial Development Zone, and will also serve as a Southern African hub, according to the NPA. In the advertisement, the NPA says the development of the port of Ngqura is “especially timely” as no existing port in the country can handle the new post-Panamax vessels or ‘supermax’ container ships which the NPA descries as “the future of intercontinental break-bulk shipping. With the current economic growth in South Africa, the container ports of Port Elizabeth, Durban and Cape Town would only offer a short-term solution as they are nearing capacity. The need to provider further container capacity has contributed towards the development of South Africa’s eighth commercial port,” it says. The port of Durban, the advertisement points out, can handle vessels with an “absolute maximum” of 3 000 TEUs. “Yet by 2004, the bigger international container ship liners will be bringing 4 800 TEU ships into Durban and the port will have to be ready to service them, while 6 500 TEU ships, far too big for any existing South African port, even with upgrades, will soon be sailing the seven seas. “Only by building a completely new harbour will this country be able to handle these new leviathans – hence Ngqura, near Port Elizabeth,” it adds. The NPA describes Ngqura as a “regional pivot for container shipping and it could feed ports all the way from Luanda to Djibouti in the north-east. “Our view is that the majority of containers handled at Ngqura will be transhipment cargoes.” Benefits will, however, be felt throughout the South African economy. “From a macro-economic perspective, there is recognition that South Africa’s long-term competitiveness is also influenced by investment in strategic infrastructure. The State will have to play a role in providing this infrastructural framework in order to facilitate investments in industrial projects by the private sector for long-term growth and development. “The economic advantage is that the Port of Ngqura’s location is equidistant from the American, European and Pacific Rim markets – making it an ideal hub port for locations throughout Southern Africa and further afield.” According to the NPA, it is estimated that Coega could contribute R6-billion to the country’s gross domestic product, and “8,6-billion in spin-off investments linked to the larger ones”.