Transnet National Ports Authority appointed Oiltanking Grindrod Calulo Holdings to construct and operate a new liquid bulk handling facility in the port of Ngqura, Eastern Cape region. The project is based on a “Build, Own, Operate and Transfer” (BOOT) agreement that the two companies had concluded end of 2016 after Oiltanking had won the open tender process.

The concept engineering design as well as the topographical and geotechnical survey have been completed, and construction is due to commence in the fourth quarter of 2017, with commissioning planned for the third quarter of 2019.

First phase of the liquid bulk facility will provide approximately 150,000 cbm of storage capacity. Future phases will provide for an additional 550,000 cbm of storage capacity. The modern facility will service the oil majors, new entrants into the South African oil industry, and international traders – all supporting the local shipping industry.

Oiltanking Grindrod Calulo is an independent bulk liquid storage provider and a majority South African owned so called level 1 BBBEE company. This stands for “Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment” and is a program to promote equal economic opportunities for disadvantaged groups in South Africa’s population.

Dirk Exalto, CEO of Oiltanking Grindrod Calulo Holdings, explains the advantages of the new facility: “For Oiltanking, this will be its first holding in a South African terminal for petroleum products, while for Calulo, which is already involved in all aspects of the oil supply chain, it will be the first clean products terminal. Meanwhile, for Grindrod, the Ngqura liquid storage facility provides diversification into fuel storage and handling, and enhances its coastal tanker shipping business.”

“The project will create socio-economic benefits for the Eastern Cape (Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality) economy,” adds Jan Willem van Velzen, Director East of Suez & Africa at Oiltanking. “Besides generating local jobs during the construction phase of the project, the facility will provide permanent positions in the long term. It will promote rural development due to skills development in the contruction industry and will empower the local BBBEE businesses.”

About Oiltanking

Oiltanking GmbH is a subsidiary of Marquard & Bahls, a Hamburg-based, family-owned company that operates in the fields of energy supply, trading and logistics. Oiltanking is the second largest independent tank storage provider for petroleum products, chemicals and gases worldwide. The company owns and operates 79 terminals in 24 countries within Europe, North and South America, Middle East, Africa, India as well as in Asia. Oiltanking has an overall storage capacity of 21 million cbm.