New government guarantee of R51bn will provide opportunities for public and private sector partnerships.
The South African government has announced that it has authorised a R51nb guarantee for the transport authority Transnet, which is designed to bring new impetus to turning around the country’s transport system.
In recent months, Transnet has also moved forward with official processes regarding several future Public Sector Partnerships (PSPs), which will bring greater involvement of the private sector in transport systems.
This has generally been embraced by the country’s fruit exporting sector, which during the past few years suffered greatly because of inefficient logistics.
The South African citrus industry welcomed the development, saying the R51nb guarantee would assist in Transnet’s recovery, of which a significant element is “strong collaboration with customers and industry partners”.
“With oranges now starting to move to export markets, the 2025 citrus season is approaching its peak weeks,” The CGA stated.
”The Citrus Growers’ Association of Southern Africa (CGA) is appreciative of preparational steps taken by Transnet Port Terminals over the past few months.
”This includes the recruiting of 256 additional resources on fixed term contracts, conducting maintenance on all reefer (refrigerated shipping container) plug points and adding 100 pieces of new equipment,” it noted.
“Shifting produce in an efficient and timely way is essential to the profitability of our industry,” said Boitshoko Ntshabele, chief executive of the CGA.
“The season has started smoothly, but the real test will be the peak over the next two months.”
Meanwhile, the outcome of the recent hearing of Maersk against International Container Terminal Services (ICTSI) and Transnet on the Durban Container Terminal Pier 2 concession process has not yet been announced.
The matter has brought great frustrations for exporters in general and specifically South Africa’s citrus export industry, who were hoping that the outcome would finally end delays in what are regarded as essential new developments at the country’s ports.
They pointed out that the court battle between two international companies and South Africa’s port operator, Transnet, had delayed the much-needed joint venture in the port of Durban for more than three years.
