South Africa’s Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) expects to appoint a developer within months for the common-user infrastructure required to support the proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at the Port of Richards Bay, in KwaZulu-Natal.

In January, the State-owned company announced that it had selected a consortium comprising Vopak and Transnet Pipelines to design, develop, construct, finance, operate, and maintain an LNG terminal in the South Dunes Precinct at the deep-water port for a period of 25 years.

In parallel, TNPA was evaluating bids for a service provider to complete detailed engineering, design and construction of the marine infrastructure, gas transmission pipeline and bulk services required to operate the LNG terminal and to link it to a dedicated LNG berth able to accommodate a floating storage regasification unit.

The request for proposals (RFP) closed on November 20 and TNPA is targeting to make the appointment during March.

The developer will carry out the construction of marine structures such as berths, bollards, fenders, pipe racks and bund walls as well as the development of a gas transmission pipeline for handling LNG imports and bulk services infrastructure.

The project, together with the terminal itself, has been described as one of two catalytic projects already under way within TNPA’s Eastern Region, which incorporates the ports of Durban and Richards Bay.

At the Port of Durban, meanwhile, TNPA anticipates appointing a service provider for the detailed design and commissioning of berth infrastructure works of the Point Container Terminal Marine Infrastructure and Bulk Services project by April.

The project seeks to expand the terminal’s capacity from 0.2-million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) to 1.8-million TEUs.

During a recent stakeholder engagement held at the Port of Durban, TNPA portfolio director Dr Bridgette Gasa-Toboti indicated that the two projects were in line with the goals of accommodating larger container vessels and meeting the country’s new energy requirements.

She indicated that they were part of a broader project pipeline that included short-, medium- and long-term projects, with the projects earmarked for implementation between 2024 and 2029 collectively valued at R11-billion.

Besides the LNG and Point Container Terminal, the project pipeline also encompasses the deepening and lengthening of berths 203, 204 and 205 at the Pier 2 Durban Container Terminal.

The RFP for a multibillion-rand main marine construction works package will close on April 19, with constructure currently scheduled to begin between August and December 2024.

The project will result in a berth length increase from 914 m to 1 210 m to safely accommodate the simultaneous berthing of three Super Post Panamax vessels 350 m in length and with a draft of 14.5 m.

A service provider had also been appointed in January to undertake prefeasibility studies for both the Base and Satellite Stations to enable the construction of the South African Navy Base project at the Port of Richards Bay.