Agriculture, Economic Development and Tourism

1. (a) What is the (i) expected operational benefit of the new rubber-tyred gantry cranes (RTGs)

for the Port of Cape Town in terms of increased container-handling capacity and reduced turnaround times:

The operational benefit is that the Cape Town Container Terminal will have sufficient heavy lifting equipment to support the waterside (vessels) and the landside (trucks that need to load imported containers and offload containers for export in the stack). This will improve vessel and truck turnaround times.

1. (ii)    projected impact that this will have on the provincial economy,

The impact on the economy will be that the cost of logistics will be lowered, which will incentivize investment in the provincial capacity to produce exports. This investment will increase economic growth and job creation, which will improve the quality of life. It addresses the investment, export and connected economy (economic infrastructure) objectives of the G4J strategy.

1. (b)   what role does the Port of Cape Town play in supporting Western Cape agricultural and      manufactured exports:

Almost 90% of deciduous fruit exports from South Africa are moved through Port of Cape Town, because this is where most of the pome and stone fruit farms are located. It equates to almost 800,000 tons per year. The related figure is 85% for national table grape exports and 25% for national citrus exports.

Quantec Easy Data listed manufactured exports from Western Cape through Port of Cape Town to the value of more than R22 billion in 2021. This was mostly for beverages, textiles, metal products, chemicals and transport equipment.

1. (c)   what share of the province’s total exports move through the Port of Cape Town annually,

Port of Cape Town moves 52% of provincial exports from Western Cape. The rest moves through other ports, or by air or by road. Port of Cape Town also moves exports from other provinces.

1. (d)   how is the Western Cape Government continuing to collaborate with (i) Transnet:

WCG is collaborating with Transnet at the strategic and operational levels. This includes Transnet Head Office, as well as the chief executives of the National Port Authority, Transnet Port Terminals and Transnet Freight Rail. The annual port stakeholder dialogue hosted by the WCG is part of the formal collaboration process. 

1. (ii)    how is the Western Cape Government continuing to collaborate with the management of

the Port of Cape Town:

Collaboration between WCG and Port of Cape Town takes the form of:

• Weekly operational co-ordination meetings,
• Quarterly strategy meetings,
• Ad hoc engagement meetings as required, including export season readiness meetings.

1. (iii)   how is the Western Cape Government continuing to collaborate the private sector to

improve port performance;

The private sector is part of all the engagements listed in sections 5 and 6 above.

(2)        whether there are any further upgrades or modernisation efforts being planned that the Province is supporting?

Transnet Port Terminals is currently assembling another 19 rubber tyred gantries. A batch of 9 is expected to be deployed to operations in November 2025 and the last 10 are likely to be deployed before the end of December 2025.

Additional modernization efforts that are being supported by WCG include:

• The development of a digital logistics planning platform,
• The formulation of a maritime logistics development strategy,
• Reduction of transporter congestion, and
• Preparation of a disruptive event mitigation response.