Coega welcomes first project tenant to Ngqura port

"From April until November this year, nine vessels will offload 56 wind turbines at the Port of Ngqura and the Coega IDZ for the Amakhala Project located near Bedford in the Eastern Cape," said Linda Sityoshwana, Coega Development Corporation's (CDC) trade solutions project manager.

"The first vessel docked at the Port of Ngqura on Wednesday 22 April and the wind turbine components have already been stored at the lay-down area. ALE Heavylift South Africa will occupy two hectares of land and will have an option to expand the land area with an additional 1.4 hectares at the peak of the project."

Skilled and unskilled labour will be sourced from the Eastern Cape and around 45 jobs will be created.

"ALE Heavylift South Africa is a major industry player and for this reason Coega is proud to be associated with the organisation. This signing confirms the Port of Ngqura and Coega IDZ as the ideal corridors for the transport of abnormal cargo."

The company forms part of the Global ALE business with offices throughout South Africa and sub-Sahara Africa, specialises in abnormal load engineering, and has the necessary project management and technical skills to offer clients a comprehensive turnkey solution through shipping, cranage, transport, on-site handling and installation.

The Port of Ngqura has been the port of entry for major abnormal-sized equipment, particularly wind turbine components and items such as the cold box for Afrox's and Air Products' air separation unit, among others.

Dr Ayanda Vilakazi, CDC Head of Marketing and Communications said, "South Africa is presently one of the world's most exciting renewable energy markets. CDC has identified renewables component manufacturing as a key activity to boost the local economy, but is now also providing special support through the new lay-down area.

"From a logistics perspective, location at Coega IDZ enables easy access to the Port of Ngqura and the N2 highway and our laydown area plays a vital part of the logistics value chain, enabling short to medium storage solutions.

"Future investors and tenants likely to make use of the laydown also include Project Mthombo, the ferrous metals plants and the biofuels facilities.

"The laydown area will allow tenants of the area to move cargo between the port and IDZ, within an allocated space through a dedicated entrance, reducing heavy traffic on the main entrance route to the port," he concluded.