The future of East London’s harbour is in doubt and business has been challenged to put forward a plan to rescue it.

Transnet has admitted to failing to spend on the harbour’s infrastructure in the past financial year.

Speaking at the Transnet Port Terminals East London Business to Business Breakfast on Friday last week , Transnet chief executive Tau Morwe said the presentation on the port was the “toughest I have to make”.

Morwe admitted that Transnet had not spent any of its R3.2billion infrastructure allocation for 2008/09 on developing East London’s port.

“I cannot stand here and account to our stakeholders and say that part of the R3.2bn went into this port,” he said.

Morwe said the grain elevator at the port was past its operational lifespan and would require at least R500million to renovate, but currently lacked the grain volumes to make this investment viable.

The elevator – which has the capacity to handle four million tons – currently handles in the region of 420000 tons a year, but would need to handle in the region of 600000 tons to make investing in it feasible.

“Do we build a new one or do we say that this is the end of the import and export of grain (for East London)?” said Morwe.

He also questioned whether the automotive element of the port was still feasible.

“We were going to expand the car terminal, but we have held back,” he said.

During discussions on Friday, it was revealed that larger container vessels, which mainly delivered automotive components for Mercedes-Benz South Africa, were no longer docking at the East London port due to the lack of bulk volumes being delivered. Since August, these ships have been docking in Port Elizabeth, with smaller vessels then bringing the cargo through to East London.

Morwe laid some of the blame at the government’s feet, saying that the current political and legislative framework hindered the development of ports in South Africa. “We are moving to a developmental State, but legislature says if we build something, we must put it out to tender. Government shot themselves in the foot with this.

“People who want to own ports want to improve their own supply chains, rather than the economy,” he said.

Morwe said Transnet had also failed small, medium and micro enterprises in East London by not spending on the port. “We spent R2bn on SMMEs and when I announced that in Durban I could smile, but here no-one has seen it,” he said.

Morwe said East London business needed to come up with a plan for the port and then get political buy-in for the plan, to agitate for its implementation.

“You need to drag your politicians, kicking and screaming, to the table to argue your case for you,” he said. “It’s time they start walking the talk.”

Morwe suggested a bulk container terminal as a possible solution, saying the terminal had gone from handling no containers in 2000 to handling 50000 in the past year.

Border-Kei Chamber of Business executive director Les Holbrook slammed Transnet’s lack of investment in East London, saying the city “has a port that no ship wants to come and call on”. “Look at the growth and development that is taking place in East London, and yet we can’t get Transnet to understand this,” he said.

Investors that were brought to East London were put off by the expense of utilising the port and the poor state that it was in.

“We are very keen to see Transnet listen to East London, not based on a balance sheet but on a 20-year forecast,” he said.

Both Holbrook and East London Industrial Development Zone chief executive Simphiwe Kondlo committed themselves to drawing up a plan and engaging with Transnet on the port’s future.