Supporting the objective of being an important, fourth largest exporter of iron ore to the Eastern market, the Saldanha Terminal is Africa's largest iron ore exporter.
The
largest natural, deep-water port in the Southern Hemisphere, situated
140 km northwest of Cape Town. The Saldanha Bulk Terminal has an average draft
of between 18 to 20 meters across with two berths that accommodates Cape-sized
vessels. The terminal remains the largest iron ore export facility in Africa
loading on average 25 vessels per month.
Saldanha
Terminal started operating in 1976 exporting iron ore to the Middle East,
establishing itself as a bulk facility. In 1979, the terminal diversified to
handle break bulk commodities such as lead, copper and zinc concentrates. Steel
and heavy minerals were added nearly two decades later.
Transnet
Port Terminals Saldanha consists of two key Terminals: namely the Iron Ore
Terminal, which has the capacity to handle up to 60 million tons of iron ore,
whilst the Multi-Purpose Terminal has the capacity to handle up to 8.5 Million
tons of break bulk Cargo.
The Iron Ore
Terminal is the largest iron ore export facility in Africa and South
Africa’s only dedicated iron ore terminal. It is the deepest and largest
natural port in Southern Africa. In 1969
feasibility studies for an extensive iron ore export project were
conducted and Construction of the began in 1973. The first deliveries
of iron ore were exported on the vessel Fern Sea during September 1976.
Assmang began with iron ore exports in 1980, using the terminal to export its iron ore and later
in 1998 the Saldanha Steel Mill was
commissioned. Plant was decommissioned March 2020.
It is A highly mechanized ore-handling plant
where to date in excess of 1.1 Billion
tons of iron ore has been exported through the Iron Ore Terminal.
The Multi-Purpose
Terminal plays a major role in SA
manganese export market and in addition to manganese the terminal plays a major support role in iron ore exports.
Iron
Ore Terminal Saldanha
The Iron Ore Terminal
Saldanha is the only dedicated iron ore terminal in Saldanha and accounts for
roughly 96% of all iron ore exports from South Africa, with the remaining 4%
channelled through MPT Saldanha.
The iron mines are situated in the Northern Cape
- 861km from Saldanha Bay. The operation is capital intensive and operates 24/7
with only Labour Day, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day classified as voluntary
public holidays.
Multipurpose Terminal Saldanha
The Saldanha
Multipurpose Terminal services mainly bulk clients, with only 5% accounting for
breakbulk during the previous financial year. Manganese accounted for 49% of
total volumes handled at MPT for the 2019/20 financial year, and iron ore 26%.
The Multipurpose
Terminal has four berths in total, with berths 203 and 204 dedicated to
manganese and iron ore vessels only – vessel scheduling is as per slot system.
Berths 201 and 202 operate on a 14-day nomination rule and service all
breakbulk cargo, as well as other bulk commodities (all bulk cargo except the
manganese and iron ore).
For 2020/21 YTD,
manganese accounted for 77,8% of revenue, and iron ore 10,9%. Total bulk cargo
account for ~ 99% of revenue for 2020/21 YTD.
Employing
a combined staff complement of 671, the terminal's tonnage capacity is
currently at 60 million tons per annum of bulk and 8,5 million tons per annum
for break bulk. The terminal will increase its current bulk capacity to 65
million tons per annum in the next six years. Saldanha is
water-scarce area and to ensure sufficient fresh water, Transnet Port Terminals
(TPT) invested in a reverse osmosis plant that uses the existing seawater,
sifts it of brine and salt for use in dust control management at the
terminal.
Billions
have been set aside for capacity creation investments and
equipment purchases over the next six years.