AT LEAST TWO separate operators will be responsible for break bulk and container handling at the port of Ngqura in the Coega Industrial Development Zone. National Ports Authority project director Kgoadi Malatsi says French aluminium company Pechiney has signed a 25-year agreement to operate the bulk handling facilities at the port. Pechiney, which plans to establish a 460 000 tons a year aluminium smelter at Coega, will put up the superstructure to handle the offloading of ore and loading of break-bulk cargo. Malatsi says the ore bulk quay in the first phase of Coega will be dedicated to Pechiney. The second quay, which will handle the export of aluminium ingots, will be capable of handling other “more general” cargo, he says. The National Ports Authority is engaged in negotiations with Codeco, a consortium which includes P&O Nedlloyd, to invest in the infrastructure needed for the two container terminals at Nqura. The port will have an initial capacity of 430 000 TEUs a year. P&O Nedlloyd is the preferred partner of the Coega Development Corporation, which is responsible for the development of the industrial development zone. Turning to the future of the port of Port Elizabeth, Malatsi says the NPA has “the mandate” to move the manganese loading facility. It had not been decided whether it would be moved to Coega or another port. There had, as yet, been no consultations around the future of the bulk fuel handling facility at Port Elizabeth harbour. Oil companies have a lease until 2014 for the facility.