President Cyril Ramaphosa has hailed the newly opened Newlyn Park Bayhead Rail Terminal as a symbol of South Africa’s recovery following the challenging COVID-19 pandemic and the country’s resilience in the face of challenges.

The President launched the terminal in Durban on Thursday.

“The completion and launch of the Newlyn Park Bayhead Rail Terminal project at the Port of Durban is not only a much-needed boost to South Africa’s logistics infrastructure network. This terminal is also a symbol of recovery and resilience. For the city of Durban, for the eThekwini Metro, for KwaZulu-Natal, and for the country at large,” he said.

President Ramaphosa reflected on the “worst public health disaster in modern times in the form of COVID-19” which forced South Africa and the entire globe into lockdown to contain the spread of the virus.

“As we were just emerging from the pandemic’s shadow in 2021, parts of our country, notably KwaZulu-Natal, were the scenes of deadly unrest and an unleashing of violence, arson and mayhem that caused loss of life and cost our economy approximately R50 billion. Then, just a year later, in 2022, KwaZulu-Natal was one of the provinces that experienced devastating floods.

“We all recall seeing the images of the damage to the Port of Durban at the time…especially in and around Bayhead Road, we saw much damage. We know the extensive work and effort it took to restore operations and to get the port and its associated infrastructure up and running again.

“These were all significant setbacks…that could have knocked us down, that could have prevented us from moving forward and that could have made us to give up.

“We can all be immensely proud of what has been achieved here, and of the persevering, pioneering South African spirit that this new terminal embodies. It also illustrates what can be achieved when government and business work together,” the President said.

Fruition

The Newlyn Park Bayhead Rail Terminal is a fruition of a commitment made during the South African Investment Conference (SAIC) in 2019.

Reflecting on the investment commitment Newlyn has made into South Africa, President Ramaphosa recalled that at SAIC 2023, Newlyn further pledged R4 billion into the “development of a near-zero dust emission manganese back- of-port storage and handling facility project at Coega, as well as in a similar facility for iron ore at Saldanha Bay”.

The President emphasised that the terminal represents a “good model” of what can be developed when government and private sector work together.

Partnership

“The terminal has been built on land leased from Transnet and the partnership with Newlyn will assist in improving operational efficiency right across the board. This precinct will address some of the challenges we have been experiencing in the logistics, infrastructure and network industries that have had a negative impact on economic growth and the creation of jobs.

“In order for this rail terminal project to deliver full benefits to South Africa for the purpose that it was designed, it has to have trains and slots to be made available to clients. This will lead to a significant increase in revenue for Transnet and Natcor Corridor through the migration of cargo from road to rail,” he said.

The project has injected some R 3.4 billion in investment and created some 4 013 direct construction jobs.

“More than 1000 employees are currently employed full time in this facility and this number is expected to grow as the facility handles more cargo. Much of the material that has gone into [building the terminal] has been sourced locally and many of those who participated in setting this facility up were also local providers.

“Upgrading local port infrastructure is critical to the success of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area and this new terminal will facilitate the swift movement of goods from South Africa to the rest of the continent and, indeed, beyond,” President Ramaphosa said.