The Coega Development Corporation (CDC) announced that it would be investing R9 million to establish a new laydown area to serve as a temporary storage site for abnormal cargo.

The laydown area will be located on the boundary between the Port of Ngqura and the Coega Industrial Development Zone (IDZ), and will stretch across 12 hectares of land in Zone 1.

The Port of Ngqura is a transhipment hub and an ideal point of entry to South Africa for abnormal cargo due to the draft depth, dedicated berth for general cargo and uncongestiveness of port operations.

The ease of movement and good road condition from the port through the Coega IDZ onto the N2 is an additional benefit to shipping to and from the Port.

“The laydown area thus provides an essential component to the logistics value chain; enabling cargo short-to-medium term storage,” says Linda Sityoshwana, CDC’s trade solutions project manager.

The development of the laydown area entails two phases over the next year, and ambitious plans are also on the horizon to develop the area into a hub of maritime economic activity.

“In Phase 1 of the project, the CDC will establish a multi-user facility for abnormal and out of gauge cargo storage, such as components of renewable energy manufacturing enterprises in the IDZ,” says Sityoshwana.

“It is further possible that maintenance work for marine drilling or production rigs can also take place in this designated area, so closely situated to the Port of Ngqura. In fact IDZ’s are designed in part to offer such back-of-port services.”

It is foreseen that during Phase 2, which will be undertaken within the 2015/2016 financial year, Zone 1 will be declared a customs controlled area (CCA). This means that users of the laydown area will be able to benefit from the duty and VAT incentives available within a customs controlled area. Zone 2 of the Coega IDZ has already been designated a CCA in May 2014.

Future investors and tenants likely to make use of the laydown also include Project Mthombo, the ferrous metals plants, and the biofuels facilities.

The laydown area will allow tenants of the area to move cargo between the port and IDZ, within an allocated space through a dedicated entrance, reducing heavy traffic on the main entrance route to the port.

According to Dr Ayanda Vilakazi, CDC head of marketing and communications, the laydown area will further enhance Nelson Mandela Bay as world class investment destination by leveraging the Coega IDZ and the Port of Ngqura as a transhipment hub and geostrategic point for the export and import of manufactured goods.