Transnet: Piracy presents an opportunity

TRANSNET is boosting its capacity as piracy in Somali waters offers South Africa an opportunity to increase its share in the transshipment of goods to Asia. The freight, rail and ports utility had increased the capacity of its Ngqura container terminal in Port Elizabeth to 2.2 million 20 foot-equivalent units (TEUs), the chief Brian Molefe said. Piracy was a “huge opportunity for us”, as the route around South Africa was much safer than travelling from Asia to North and South America through the Mediterranean Sea, Molefe said. “There’s a possibility to divert traffic here instead.” Transnet implemented a seven-year, R312.2 billion plan in 2012 to increase rail and port capacity. Somali piracy cost the global economy about $6bn (R72bn) in 2012, according to Oceans Beyond Piracy, a project of the One Earth Future Foundation. Transnet spent R2bn to increase the actual capacity of the Ngqura terminal from 800 000 to 1.5 million TEUs, he said. – Bloomberg