International Container Terminal Services Inc.’s (ICTSI) right to operate and develop the Durban Container Terminal Pier 2 (DCT2) is being challenged in South Africa’s court.
ICTSI said that the Kwazulu Natal Division of the High Court of South Africa has issued an injunction against ICTSI’s win last year based on a protest filed by “a losing bidder,” reported to be APM Terminals.
“The judge has issued the injunction until the case is heard and resolved,” ICTSI said.
“ICTSI will continue to pursue its legal rights,” it added.
A key facility in the Port of Durban, DCT Pier 2 is Transnet’s largest container terminal. It handles 72 percent of the port’s throughput and 46 percent of South Africa’s port traffic.
ICTSI was declared the winner of a bidding for the terminal’s upgrade and operation in July last year, after submitting the highest bid.
The concession is for 25 years and ICTSI will set up a joint venture with Transnet Port Terminals, a division of the state-owned South African freight transport company Transnet.
DCT Pier 2 is positioned to serve as a hub for containerized cargo from the Indian Ocean Islands, the Middle East, the Far East, and Australia.
The privatization of the terminal is part of an effort to improve efficiencies in the South African government-owned Transnet group, which in the past year has been hit by management issues, underinvestment in infrastructure, labor unrest, and theft of assets.
The entry of ICTSI is supposed to increase the cargo handling capacity of DCT Pier to 2.8 million twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers from 2 million.
It was reported last year that the Port of Durban is undergoing a $6.73 billion rehabilitation that includes deepening the Maydon Wharf channel to accommodate larger vessels, building additional container capacity at Pier 1 and Pier 2, and developing a new container terminal in the Point Precinct. It will expand the port’s container capacity to at least 11.4 million TEU from 3.3 million.
DCT Pier 2 would have been ICTSI’s fifth African operation after the Onne Multipurpose Terminal in Nigeria, Kribi Multipurpose Terminal in Cameroon, Matadi Gateway Terminal in D.R. Congo, and Madagascar International Container Terminal.
