February 2019

Construction Kicks Off at New Ngqura Liquid Bulk Terminal, South Africa

Oiltanking Grindrod Calulo (Pty) Ltd and Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) turned the first sod at the site of the Port of Ngqura’s future liquid bulk tank terminal and main access road. This comes ahead of the planned decommissioning and rehabilitation of the existing liquid bulk facilities at the neighboring Port of Port Elizabeth, which will pave the way for Ngqura’s establishment as a new petroleum trading hub for Southern Africa.

As the port landlord, TNPA is providing port infrastructure for the liquid bulk terminal to commence operations. The new tank terminal will develop the Port of Ngqura’s liquid bulk capacity for commodities such as petroleum, diesel, jet fuel, illuminated paraffin and liquid petroleum gas. Once operational, the terminal will facilitate substantially increased throughputs over present volumes handled at Port Elizabeth due to Ngqura's deeper draught which allows it to handle much larger vessels. The allocated 20 hectare site also provides ample space for future expansion of the terminal.

Liquid bulk products will be transported to the Port of Ngqura via ship and piped to the tank terminal prior to local supply and/or local and global re-export. The new modern facility will service the oil majors, new entrants into the South African oil industry as well as international traders - all supporting the local shipping industry.

Oiltanking Grindrod Calulo’s design caters for a bulk storage capacity of up to 790.000 cbm. Phase 1 will cater for dedicated jetty pipelines, bulk storage for up to 200.000 cbm, truck loading with a Vapor Recovery Unit (VRU), state-of-the-art firefighting facilities and site drainage facilities. Provision has been made for the receipt, storage and distribution of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). The planned commissioning is at the end of 2020.