Ports

THE IMPORTANCE OF INLAND PORTS

  Inland ports boost efficiency and accessibility for international trade.

  • Reduced Costs: By consolidating cargo and offering alternative routes, inland ports bring down distribution costs compared to traditional seaports.
  • Expanded Reach: Inland ports act as extensions of seaports, using long-distance corridors to access a wider local market and compete with other ports.
  • Logistics Hubs: These inland facilities provide superior logistics with large warehouses, easy access to railways and highways, ample parking, and less congestion compared to busy seaports.

In essence, inland ports act as multimodal centres that decongest seaports, reduce costs, and extend their reach to new markets.

  • Ports facilitate the movement of goods and services between markets, reducing transport costs and enhancing efficiency.
  • Inland ports confer higher accessibility through long-distance transport corridors because of lower distribution costs and improved capacity by consolidating freight volumes.
  • These high-capacity inland transport corridors allow ports to penetrate the local hinterland of competing ports and extend their cargo base.
  • Inland ports offer superior logistics, the availability of large buildings, proximity to rail and highways, ample truck parking, and less traffic congestion.


 

Three key factors make a rail-based Inland port commercially successful:

  1. Multimodal Terminal: This is the heart of the Inland port. It allows for easy transfer of goods between different transportation modes (trucks, trains, ships) and provides a connection to a major seaport. This ensures the Inland port stays well-connected to international trade routes.
  2. Efficient Operations: Economies of scale and agglomeration come into play here. By handling large volumes of freight and being located in a busy trade area, the Inland port can reduce transportation costs while offering reliable service. This benefits businesses that use the Inland port for their cargo. Imagine a highway with many lanes compared to a narrow road – the wider highway can handle more traffic efficiently.
  3. Co-location Advantage: This means locating the Inland port near other freight-related businesses. A dedicated real estate base can be leased or sold to these businesses, like warehouses or distributors. This minimizes the extra costs associated with moving freight short distances at the beginning and end of its journey (often referred to as “first-mile” and “last-mile” costs). Imagine a business park specifically designed for companies that all deal with shipping and receiving goods. This concentration makes everything more efficient.

MULTIMODAL PORTS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

1 – PORT OF DURBAN
The Port of Durban is the most critical port for regional trade and facilitating the movement of FMCG and Automotive goods.
There is however a big part of the port that handles liquid bulk, Dry bulk. The dry bulk part of the port can handle to 55,000dwt vessels. Maydon Wharf and bluff where dry bulk is handled. There are many different warehousing Facilities that handle different bulk commodities. TPT is only handling bulk of Maydon wharf on an open access multi-user principle.

2 – CATO RIDGE
Cato Ridge is a critical Hub for the cargo that moves on the North South Corridor. The purpose of this projects primarily to Improve efficiencies in the Movement of freight and promote industrial development along the Durban – Free State – Gauteng corridor as one of the most strategic arteries of the South African economy. The project aims to develop a Strategic Inland Port in Cato Ridge as a Back of the Port facility that seeks to lower the cost logistics, promote efficiency and decongest the Durban port and CBD thereby creating additional capacity for the port.

3 – CITY DEEP
City Deep is a critical Hub for the cargo that moves on the North South Corridor. it Is first logistics hub that sits within the Corridor and that is able to handle road and rail traffic. There 15 heavy competition in the city since Most of the Logistics service providers have their operations there and all have direct access to rail Within a one kilomete radius.

4 – TAMBO SPRINGS
Tambo Springs is a 6 000 000 m2 industrial development located in the southern periphery of Johannesburg/Ekurhuleni and within the Johannesburg /Durban/Coega/Cape Town road freight and rail corridor. This Next Generation Inland Port is designed to offer end-users a world class Rail and Road based Container Terminal that has direct connectivity to the Southern African Ports,

5 – MUSINA INTERMODAL TERMINAL
MIT provides a seamless, one stop logistics solution for companies wishing to export their valuable commodities, or for those who import goods and commodities primarily through South Africa. MIT aims to lower logistics costs through innovative and efficient transport solutions for a wide range of commodities.

6 – CAPE TOWN INLAND PORT (CTIP)
The CTIP is a highly strategic location for a multimodal inland port, with connectivity to road, rail and air freight and linkages to the Port of Cape Town. The 50ha site is close to Belcon a nearby rail hub; container freight can be easily distributed for both import and export via Belcon or the Port. This allows for distribution intra-Africa and abroad.