Transnet Port Terminals was established in 2000, when Transnet's then single port division, Portnet, was divided into operations and landlord businesses, namely SAPO and the National Ports Authority (NPA). Now known as Transnet Port Terminals, since its inception SAPO has played a key role in supporting the South African government's export-led growth strategy.

Most Southern African import and export commodities are handled through South Africa's six largest ports Richards Bay, Durban, Saldanha, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and East London. Port Terminals not only handles these cargoes but implements logistics management solutions for its container, bulk, break-bulk (multi-purpose) and car terminal operations.

Port Terminals' major customers represent a broad spectrum of the economy and include the shipping industry, vehicle manufacturers, agriculture, timber and forest products, the mining industry and exporters of minerals, metals and granite.

Container Terminals

Durban, Africa's busiest port, has the southern hemisphere’s largest and best-equipped container terminal. It's capacity of some 1.3 million TEUs a year will be increased over the next three years to cope with the considerable present growth in container traffic.

Close to the southern tip of Africa, Cape Town's container terminal is a well-located hub for traffic from the west of the northern hemisphere and to South America and the Far East.

A third of South Africa's major container-handling facilities are at Port Elizabeth. This handles some 250 000 TEUs a year and specialises in cargoes for the vehicle manufacturing and vehicle components industries.

Car Terminals

Port Terminals is committed to perfection and precision in everything they do. This can best be exemplified in their 2002/03 financial year when they loaded and unloaded over 150 000 exported and imported vehicles onto and from 280 car and truck carrier vessels all without a single claim for damage. Port Terminals is not only proud of this record, but is also committed to maintaining it in the future.

Early in 2003 a new era began for the Durban car terminal (which handles two-thirds of all the vehicles leaving or entering South Africa). The event was the start of work on Durban's much-needed port expansion project. Included in this project was a three-storey structure, housing 3800 additional parking bays and an over-pass linking the car terminal with the quayside. The increased capacity came none too soon, as Durban's throughput requirement was forecast to increase from approximately 100 000 units a year to 143 000 units in 2004 and 175 000 units in 2006.

Breakbulk (Multi-Purpose) Terminals

Recent developments have included:

• Richards Bay: The break-bulk terminal has resulted from a merger of the bulk metal and combi terminals. The combined infrastructure has improved the terminal's handling of a variety of break-bulk, neo-bulk and containerised cargoes.
• Durban: The multi-purpose terminal, which handles break-bulk, bulk and containerised cargoes, has become this port's largest general cargo-handling facility.
• East London: The terminal is equipped to handle import, export and coastwise cargoes ranging from cars to livestock, wheat and other grain and scrap steel.
• Port Elizabeth: This port's multi-purpose terminal handles all types of unitise, free flowing and ro-ro cargoes, originating from and destined to the Eastern Cape's fruit hinterland and its vehicle and vehicle-component industries.
• Cape Town: Here, three terminals handle a variety of cargoes. The multi-purpose terminal specialises in inter-modal (land to sea, and sea to land) transport of general, bulk and containerised cargoes. The combi terminal is used mainly for fruit, fish, granite, timber, steel and copper cargoes. The bulk terminal is equipped to handle a range of grains, as well as cement, scrap steel and Bentonite.
• Saldanha: This multi-purpose terminal's principal cargoes are exported steel coils and imported steel pellets.

For more information, go to Transnet Port Terminals