Transnet opens bidding for private partner to build Ngqura manganese terminal
Transnet has begun selecting a private partner to fund, build and run a new manganese export terminal at Ngqura for 25 years.
South Africa's state-owned logistics operator Transnet has begun the search for a private-sector partner to develop and operate a new manganese export terminal for 25 years, part of an effort to raise the country's export capacity for the mineral by 20%.
The company said it had issued a Request for Qualification to start the process of choosing a strategic partner. The selected firm would fund, develop, operate and maintain a new export corridor running from mines in the Northern Cape to a terminal at Ngqura in the Eastern Cape.
South Africa is the world's leading manganese exporter, shipping about 26 million metric tons in 2025, according to the Minerals Council. Transnet's freight rail system currently moves roughly 16 million tons of that total each year.
The new terminal is expected to cut the volume of manganese hauled to ports by road, which stands at about 10 million tons annually. Ngqura lies roughly 20 km north-east of Port Elizabeth, a port that presently handles 65% of the country's manganese export capacity.
Manganese is used mainly in steel manufacturing but is increasingly in demand for battery technologies, which are central to renewable energy. Around 95% of South Africa's manganese export volumes go to Asia, with China taking nearly 68% of all shipments, followed by India at 16%, Singapore and Malaysia at 3% each, and Japan at 2%.
Transnet has turned increasingly to private-sector participation as it grapples with the effects of years of underinvestment and insufficient government funding.