The City of Cape Town has requested that national government immediately publish the Freight Logistics Roadmap to include the participation of the private sector in the city’s port.

The City has lamented the fiscal burden resulting from the inefficiencies within its port and wrote a letter to Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan outlining its proposals to privatise some components of the port.

It pointed out that inefficiencies have a detrimental effect on trade as private manufacturers need to ensure that they have considerable amounts of extra stock to satisfy customer needs.

The City has welcomed Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s endorsement of private sector involvement as a part of the broader reforms within the logistics sector.

“Our country is heavily reliant on trade and exports. It is essential that goods are moved through the ports as efficiently as possible. Allowing private sector participation in the Port of Cape Town has the potential to contribute an additional R6-billion in exports, roughly 20 000 direct and indirect jobs, and over R1.6-billion in additional taxes over five years,” said Economic Growth MMC Alderman James Vos.

He has also urged for the Freight Logistics Roadmap to be made available for careful examination in view of Godongwana’s indication that potential State bailouts for Transnet will correlate with adhering to the document.