EL welcomes Tijuca back into city
East London welcomed the 13-deck, 231-metre Tijuca into the city's recently expanded car terminal, which is now boasting a 10.5 metres deep berth - compared with the previous depth of 9.3. The Tijuca is the largest car-carrier ever to sail into the port of East London. Built in 2008, the Tijuca is operated by Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics. It has capacity for up to 8,000 units of rolling cargo such as cars, high and heavy cargo and some breakbulk cargo.
Jacqueline Brown, East London port manager, said the Tijuca's visit demonstrates the positive outlook in the new vehicles market, driven by the awarding of major automotive contracts to local original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), such as Mercedes-Benz South Africa's contract with Daimler to produce the next generation C-Class at its East London plant.
Because of these automotive contracts, R2.5-billion will be invested into the East London plant in preparation for production of the vehicles, to be introduced to global markets in 2014.
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