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Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA), South Africa's state port authority, signed 11 agreements with fuel and chemical terminal operators at the Island View complex. This comes despite an ongoing legal challenge threatening to annul these lease contracts.
The agreements, which are valid for 25 years, were signed under the instruction of Transport Minister Barbara Creecy. Last year, the official invoked special rules outlined in port legislation with the aim of safeguarding the country's energy security.
However, the minister's decision faces a court battle from Capricorn Petrochemicals, which seeks to have the measure reviewed and set aside.
In documents filed with the court, Capricorn alleges that the resolution favors historical operators – including oil company BP and commodity trader Vitol – to the detriment of "local black-owned companies."
The Island View complex, located in the Port of Durban, is a critical point for the South African economy, serving as the country's main storage and supply hub, through which approximately three-quarters of fuel imports flow.
In response to inquiries about the case, TNPA confirmed that it sealed the operational agreements across the liquid bulk sector. Furthermore, the state entity reported that it concluded a Third-Party Access Framework with all operators, which establishes a regulated mechanism for new market participants to access the terminal's storage capacity.
For her part, Minister Creecy recently detailed that TNPA will bring "rationalized sites" to the market through a special purpose vehicle to foster inclusion.
"We are finalizing the participation mechanism and expect to make the process public in the second quarter of this financial year," the official stated during a fuel industry conference on June 11.
Source: Portal Portuario
