<\/p>\n
<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JIMMY MOYAHA:<\/strong> Transnet National Ports Authority [TNPA] has confirmed that its current interim chief executive officer will officially step into the role of chief executive officer come Friday, the 1st of May \u2013 Workers\u2019 Day.<\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-GB\">Mohammed Abdool <\/span> joins me on the line now to look at this announcement and perhaps what it means for Transnet Ports.<\/p>\n<p>Mr <span lang=\"EN-GB\">Abdool<\/span>, good to have you on the show. Thanks so much for taking the time. Before we get into the rest of the conversation, official congratulations are in order. I know you haven\u2019t officially stepped into the role on paper, but you\u2019ve certainly been serving in the role up to this point. Congratulations.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MOHAMMED ABDOOL:<\/strong> Good evening to you, Jimmy, and a very good evening to your SAfm listeners as well. Thank you kindly, thank you for your warm wishes; really appreciated. And great to be on your evening show.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JIMMY MOYAHA:<\/strong> You know, Mohammed, you step into quite the hot seat at Transnet [National] Ports Authority. We know that the responsibility of the ports from a national level is a key strategic asset \u2013 not just for Transnet, but for South Africa\u2019s entire economy. You\u2019re no stranger to this business. You\u2019ve been within Transnet Ports for several years, both in your CFO role and now in your CEO position.<\/p>\n<p>Take us through your thoughts around where we position Transnet Ports Authority going forward, and the importance of this institution for South Africa.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MOHAMMED ABDOOL:<\/strong> Thanks, Jimmy. Correct, I think the task at National Ports Authority or the ports is that of a multi-port authority for the country.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>We operate eight commercial ports across a 2\u00a0900km coastline. We also have an additional port, Port Nolloth, which is not as commercial as the others.<\/p>\n<div class=\"visible-sm-block visible-xs-block m1010\">\n<div class=\"ad-container-wrapper\">\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Clearly in terms of the country these are important assets.<\/p>\n<p>And effectively with cargo \u2013 about 90% of the cargo flows \u2013 actually traversing through the ports or harbours, you can understand how important the TNPA is to that.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>So our vision for the TNPA is really to enable a transformed and a sustainable world-class port system.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In fact, what I envisage going forward is a modernised commercial port ecosystem that I believe can unlock inclusive economic growth in an environmentally sustainable manner.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JIMMY MOYAHA:<\/strong> Mohammed, can we look at the positioning of TNPA on the African continent? There was a time when South African ports were the largest on the African continent, and we\u2019re looking at global trade at the moment, potentially repositioning those ports and bringing them back into focus as we look to navigate challenges like the Suez Canal and the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n<p>I want to get your thoughts around how we position the TNPA, understanding that ports like Kenya have recently come into the spotlight with investments from the likes of DP\u00a0World.<\/p>\n<p>Take us through what our strategy then needs to be if we aim to attract the global flows that we know our ports are capable of handling.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MOHAMMED ABDOOL:<\/strong> Yes. Thanks, Jimmy, again for that. The TNPA, like Transnet, is coming off a very difficult recent past with us actually experiencing a fair number of financial challenges.<\/p>\n<p>We find ourselves having underinvested in the port system and, in fact, having lost our ranking, as you say, on the African continent just in terms of trading to the likes of Maputo and Walvis Bay. Some of our cargoes have actually moved off into that space and it certainly hasn\u2019t been a great recent past.<\/p>\n<div class=\"visible-sm-block visible-xs-block m1010\">\n<div class=\"ad-container-wrapper\">\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT:<\/p>\n<p>CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>But I am quite optimistic, given what we\u2019ve been able to achieve as Transnet. You may recall that we launched the recovery plan with the new Transnet board probably back in 2022\/23 \u2013 and that recovery plan has certainly delivered.<\/p>\n<p>You see that emphasised more in our sister division, Transnet Freight Rail, but certainly on the ports as well.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>We are now moving into the space where I do believe we have largely recovered.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>So the strategy then is to restore the TNPA to what we understood to be the glory days of trade on the African continent. That is encompassed within the Reinvent for Growth strategy at Transnet, which we have coined \u2018R4G\u2019. If you look at that particular strategy, it\u2019s underpinned by three pillars.<\/p>\n<p>One is to be fixing and optimising the business and, as the name suggests, it\u2019s exactly that, restoring it to what it should be \u2013 and then transforming the business.<\/p>\n<p>Now important on that front, Jimmy, is reforming the business within the freight logistics roadmap and some other government policies for the trade flows in the country. The TNPA has also been ready for corporatisation. So that\u2019s our second pillar.<\/p>\n<p>And then our third pillar is \u2018expansionary\u2019, really looking to see how we can position South African ports as leading logistics hubs. We are fairly confident that we haven\u2019t lost the complete ground. We certainly had a way up there in terms of trade flows for the African continent, and we see us being able to complement some of the African ports as well.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JIMMY MOYAHA:<\/strong> Mohammed, before I let you go, what do you think are the TNPA\u2019s biggest challenges? Understandably, again, having been within TNPA for as long as you have, you\u2019ve seen various stages or various life cycles that we\u2019ve gone through as [the] ports authority. What do you think remains the biggest challenge to have to contend with now, and is there a strategy to dealing with that?<\/p>\n<p><strong>MOHAMMED ABDOOL:<\/strong> Well, for me, if I were to then put it down to just one of the key focus areas \u2013 which is something I\u2019ve got high up on my agenda to deal with \u2013 is the unfortunate underinvestment in our ports system, Jimmy.<\/p>\n<div class=\"visible-sm-block visible-xs-block m1010\">\n<div class=\"ad-container-wrapper\">\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT:<\/p>\n<p>CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>I think the successes that we\u2019ve had until now are largely premised on major investments, significant investments that we made right up to the early 2000s.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>But since then, in the last decade or decade-and-a-half we haven\u2019t seen much of that investment into the port system.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>We have spent some monies in terms of our marine craft and trying to refurbish some of them, or just replacing some of the craft. But when we talk about real \u2018expansionary projects\u2019 and growing our ports and introducing new handling modes such as gas \u2013 LPG [liquefied petroleum gas], and LNG [liquefied natural gas] \u2013 those are areas in which we haven\u2019t progressed as we would have loved to.<\/p>\n<p>So for me that will be the critical focus, and we are working with the various teams. We have various initiatives underway, and we are also engaging with the different parties.<\/p>\n<p>I think what\u2019s also important, Jimmy, is that part of the TNPA strategy is to leverage off the partnerships we have with the private sector so that we can see how some of those investments can be undertaken \u2013 not just using our balance sheet.<\/p>\n<p>So those are some of the strategies that we\u2019ve got in place to address the issue of chronic underinvestment in the port system, if I call it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JIMMY MOYAHA:<\/strong> Leveraging partnerships and re-establishing the dominance of Transnet [National] Ports Authority \u2013 that is the word from the incoming chief executive officer, Mohammed Abdool, who joined me on the line to see how he\u2019ll step into the role he\u2019s already been acting in, but effectively from the 1st of May.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you, kind sir. All the best to you and your team, and we wish you all the success going forward.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>#Ports #remain #crucial #lifting #SAs #economic #tide<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here. 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