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DGAP-Media / 2019-02-22 / 13:46 *NELSON MANDELA BAY, South Africa - Oiltanking Grindrod Calulo (Pty) Ltd (OTCALULO) and Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) turned the first sod at the site of the Port of Ngqura's future liquid bulk tank terminal and main access road. This comes ahead of the planned decommissioning and rehabilitation of the existing liquid bulk facilities at the neighboring Port of Port Elizabeth, which will pave the way for Ngqura's establishment as a new petroleum trading hub for Southern Africa.* The new tank terminal is expected to provide storage and marine infrastructure to support the overall petroleum demand projections for South Africa. A sod-turning ceremony held on Thursday afternoon (February 21, 2019) outside Port Elizabeth was attended by oil industry principals and government officials. Speaking at the event, Mkhuseli Faku, Chairman of OTCALULO said: "Having been awarded the concession to develop a liquid bulk storage and handling facility in the Port of Ngqura, OTCALULO is now embarking on the first phase of construction. The terminal will be built to the highest international safety standards and provide exceptional service to its customers. OTCALULO looks forward to becoming a contributing member of the Nelson Mandela Bay community and expects to continue on its growth path in the years ahead." Chief Executive of TNPA, Shulami Qalinge welcomed the start of construction. "As the port landlord, TNPA is providing port infrastructure for the liquid bulk terminal to commence operations at the end of 2020. The new tank terminal will develop the Port of Ngqura's liquid bulk capacity for commodities such as petroleum, diesel, jet fuel, illuminated paraffin and liquid petroleum gas. Once operational, the terminal will facilitate substantially increased throughputs over present volumes handled at Port Elizabeth due to Ngqura's deeper draught which allows it to handle much larger vessels. The allocated 20 Ha site also provides ample space for future expansion of the terminal," she said. Liquid bulk products will be transported to the Port of Ngqura via ship and piped to the tank terminal prior to local supply and/or local and global re-export. The new modern facility will service the oil majors, new entrants into the South African oil industry as well as international traders - all supporting the local shipping industry. To date the contract for bulk earthworks has been awarded and will start today. Civil, mechanical and electrical contractors will be appointed shortly and they will be employing from within the community and developing skills within the construction industry. It is anticipated that 500 local jobs will be created during the construction phase of the project. The total number of permanent staff required for the terminal would be in the region of 50. *TNPA *has already completed Phase 1 of the infrastructure required to service the site, including the detailed design of the new port entrance plaza and the new main access road, as well as the pipeline servitude that will form the link between the new tank terminal and the port. Phase 2 commenced in November 2018 and includes the landside development forming the link between the tank terminal and the berth. The port authority will provide infrastructure for the new OTCALULO tank terminal by equipping Berth B100 to function as a liquid bulk berth. It will also construct a new access road from the tank terminal to the berth. TNPA will provide all the associated services and construct a new port entrance on the eastern side of the Couga River. TNPA concluded an agreement in late 2016 with OTCALULO to plan, fund, construct, own, maintain and operate the new facility after an open and transparent tender process. *OTCALULO*'s design caters for a bulk storage capacity of up to 790.000 cbm. Phase 1 will cater for dedicated jetty pipelines, bulk storage for up to 200.000 cbm, road loading with a Vapor Recovery Unit (VRU), state-of-the-art firefighting facilities and site drainage facilities. Provision has been made for the receipt, storage and distribution of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). The planned commissioning is at the end of 2020. The infrastructure will be designed to provide the following services - to accommodate vessel sizes of up to 100.000 deadweight tonnage, road loading facilities, inter-tank transfer/recirculation facilities, stock accounting in real time, office facilities for customers and an independent laboratory. *Oiltanking Grindrod Calulo (Pty) Ltd (OTCALULO)*, a majority South African owned Level 2 BBBEE company, is an independent bulk liquid storage provider in South Africa which combines Oiltanking GmbH's world-class expertise in handling bulk liquids with the local expertise and the full Black Economic Empowerment credentials of Grindrod South Africa (Pty) Ltd and Calulo Terminals (Pty) Ltd. *Oiltanking GmbH* is a subsidiary of Marquard & Bahls, a Hamburg-based company that operates in the fields of energy supply, trading and logistics. Oiltanking is one of the largest independent tank storage providers for petroleum products, chemicals and gases worldwide. The company owns and operates 73 terminals in 24 countries within Europe, North America, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, India, and the Asia-Pacific region. Oiltanking has an overall storage capacity of 20 million cbm. *Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA)* is one of five operating divisions of Transnet SOC Ltd. The National Ports Authority is responsible for the safe, effective and efficient economic functioning of the national port system, which it manages in a landlord capacity. It provides port infrastructure and marine services at the eight commercial seaports in South Africa - Richards Bay, Durban, Saldanha, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, East London, Mossel Bay and Ngqura. It operates within a legislative and regulatory environment and is governed by the National Ports Act (Act No. 12 of 2005). For more information on Oiltanking and Marquard & Bahls, please visit www.oiltanking.com [1], www.grindrod.co.za, www.calulo.co.za [2] and www.transnetnationalportsauthority.net [3]. *For media inquiries, please contact:* Nico Smit Managing Director Oiltanking Grindrod Calulo (Pty) Ltd +27-21-421-6250 nico.smit@oiltanking.com End of Media Release Issuer: Oiltanking GmbH Key word(s): Energy 2019-02-22 Dissemination of a Press Release, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. 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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 22, 2019 07:46 ET (12:46 GMT)
