South African Port Operations will invest more than R100-million over the next three years on new equipment and on maintenance in the Port Elizabeth harbour to keep up with the growth in import and export traffic.

Half of this investment will be spent on maintaining the manganese ore terminal over the next three years, despite the fact that the site is earmarked for the new, R50-million Freedom Statue.

The investment also includes a new fleet of 11 straddle carriers, valued at R45-million, and R8-million in maintenance scheduled for two of the container cranes due to start in June. The straddle carriers are due to arrive in 18 months.

Port Elizabeth port operations chief Siya Mhlaluka said growth in imports and exports were mainly driven by the growth in respective industries like car and automotive parts manufacturers and the “explosive growth of China” to where most of the manganese ore is exported.

Mhlaluka said despite a number of constraints, the port had handled a record 336 000 six metre containers during the past financial year.

This was 23 per cent up on the previous financial year.

“The 23 per cent rise was more than we anticipated and we forecast a rise of 80 per cent during the current financial year,” said Mhlaluka.

The efficiency of the port has also increased during the past financial year as it now handled an average of 20 containers an hour – up from 12 an hour in the previous year.

Average ship turnaround time has been less than 24 hours, while from inside the container terminal trains deliver containers to the Reef less than a day after they are unloaded.

Trucks are usually turned around within 25 minutes, except at peak times.

“The increased efficiency is the result of improved processes, better planning and co-ordination between the port and its customers as well as employee training,” said Mhlaluka.

By the end of this financial year, the port would have handled 2,4-million tons of manganese ore. The planned R50-million expenditure on the manganese ore dump would make it possible for the terminal to meet demand until 2010.

Asked why SA Port Operations was investing so much in the site despite plans to build the monument there, Mhlaluka said demand justified the expenditure, even if it was short term. A new ore dump would probably be established at the new deep-water port at Coega but he did not know when this would take place.

“Our job is to keep this port operating at full efficiency until Coega is capable of taking over certain operations.

“There will be a period when there is a natural change-over of certain operations from Port Elizabeth to Coega, but we believe that there will always be a demand for a specialised container handling facility in PE harbour and have planned accordingly.”

Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin announced last month that the ore dump and the adjacent fuel tank farm would stay in Port Elizabeth harbour at least until 2009-10, ruling out hopes to have the statue in place by the time thousands of visitors descend on the city for matches in the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

Officials in the metro, however, are hoping to lobby the national government to bring the removal of these industrial sites forward to make room for the statue.

Another area which is receiving attention in PE harbour is facilities for refrigerated cargo – or “reefer” containers. While in the harbour the cooling units built into the refrigerated containers are plugged into electrical points to maintain their temperature.

Further investment is also planned to provide Eastern Cape farmers with the most efficient and cost-effective means to reach their international markets.