OVERVIEW Transport and
OVERVIEW Transport and logistics New terminal boosts logistics capabilities. President Cyril Ramaphosa was on hand in April 2024 to celebrate the opening of the Newlyn PX Bayhead Terminal alongside the Port of Durban. The culmination of an investment pledge at the 2019 South African Investment Conference, logistics specialists Newlyn will spend approximately R3.4-billion on the multimodal facility, mostly with local suppliers. Over 4 000 construction jobs were created and more than 1 000 employees are already working at the facility, a number that is sure to grow as cargo volumes increase. President Ramaphosa lauded the facility for the role that it will play in the move to “accelerate the movement of cargo from road to rail in line with the objectives of the National Land Transport Framework”. He further stated that the project is a good model of public private partnership as the land is owned by Transnet. A crucial element also mentioned by the President was how important it is for South Africa to upgrade logistics capacity in order to be benefit from the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The African market of 1.3-billion people is expected to grow to 2.5-billion by 2050 but the key statistic targeted by AfCFTA is intra- African trade. Exports to the rest of the world made up between 80% and 90% of Africa’s total trade from 2000 to 2017 (UNCTAD). In 2019 about 27% of South Africa’s exports were delivered to the rest of the continent. The size of the facility (640 000m² of warehousing, rail sidings and open storage) means that it will be able to receive seven full-block trains of 100 containers each daily. C Steinweg Bridge, with global headquarters in Rotterdam, and Access World, founded in Italy but now run from Switzerland with operations all over the world, are two foreign investors who have signed up to operate within the Newlyn Terminal. With two of Africa’s biggest ports in Durban and Richards Bay and the King Shaka International Airport and associated Dube TradePort, KwaZulu-Natal has good infrastructure to support trade and export activity. The N3 highway linking Durban with the Highveld and the industrial hub of South Africa is the country’s busiest road. Durban harbour is South Africa’s premier multi-cargo port and ONLINE RESOURCES Dube TradePort: www.dubetradeport.co.za South African Association of Freight Forwarders: www.saaff.org.za Transnet National Ports Authority: www.transnetnationalportsauthority.net SECTOR INSIGHT C Steinweg Bridge and Access World are tenants. President Ramaphosa is flanked by Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Ebrahim Patel, left, and Newlyn CEO Rajendra Balmukhun, at the new terminal facility. is Africa’s busiest, handling in excess of 80-million tons of cargo per annum (StatsSA). Dube TradePort has facilities devoted to logistics, warehousing and export support. Proximity to the airport is vital and freight volumes are growing. King Shaka International Airport has recently been putting out the welcome mat as a number of airlines either return after Covid or put on new routes. Airlines flying in to Durban include Turkish Airlines, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Airlink and FlySafair. ■ KWAZULU-NATAL BUSINESS 2024/25 36 PHOTO: GCIS
ICT OVERVIEW Cellphone reception is available in the Drakensberg. The drive to connect South Africans continues. The country’s two biggest cellphone providers, Vodacom and MTN, have set ambitious targets, which includes getting access to signals in some of the most remote regions. In the case of MTN in 2024, this involves 14 new rural sites including Greytown, Tugela Ferry and the Qachas Nek Border Post into Lesotho, pictured. Vodacom KwaZulu-Natal invested more than R1-billion in the 2023/24 financial year into the region’s network to increase capacity and resilience and accelerate access to connectivity throughout the province. With 23 new urban sites and 129 deep-rural sites coming on stream, Vodacom will take its 4G population coverage above the current level of 95.8%. A SETA-accredited digital training programme is run in the local municipalities of KwaDukuza and Mandeni. It is managed by the Vuthela iLembe LED Support Programme in partnership with Enterprise iLembe, the district’s economic development agency, the Moses Kotane Institute and the youth managers of both municipalities. A provincial strategy for creating smart cities is targeting three districts: Ugu (Ray Nkonyeni Local Municipality as anchor), iLembe (KwaDukuza) and Richards Bay (uMhlathuze). Broadband Infraco is providing layer-two network services to Dube TradePort to provide over 810 WiFi hotspots at 405 selected sites across the province. Over a five-year period, the Moses Kotane Institute, another subsidiary of the KZN Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, will connect several rural communities. Hubs are expected to be functional in Community Service Centres to improve public access to digital services. South African Vanguard of Technology (Savant) is a Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic) programme. It is the marketing and awareness programme for the South African ICT and electronics sector. The aim is to develop South African exports and to attract foreign investment. It houses a venture fund and an incubator. A SmartXchange SMME Incubator has been launched in Port Shepstone on the South Coast. The concept of ICT has been expanded to include media and electronics, so the hub is called an MICTe Incubator. ONLINE RESOURCES Dube TradePort: www.dubetradeport.co.za SmartExchange: www.smartxchange.co.za South African Vanguard of Technology: www.savant.co.za SECTOR INSIGHT Vodacom invested R1-billion in 2023/24. The province’s SmartXchange is an example of a successful publicprivate partnership that supports businesses in the information technology and communications sector. Incubation strategies for startups and skills development (including links to educational institutions) are important parts of the organisation’s brief. South Africa became better connected to Mauritius, Madagascar and Reunion in 2023 when Liquid Intelligent Technologies South Africa deployed its MTEL T3 subsea cable on Amanzimtoti’s Pipeline Beach. The company will host and manage the submarine cable and provide the fibre-landing facility that will house two subsea cables. ■ PHOTO: Bel Adone/Wikimedia Commons KWAZULU-NATAL BUSINESS 2024/25
