Heritage Cases

The Port of Saldanha (hereafter referred to as the Port) is the largest iron ore handling port in South Africa. Iron ore is transported to the Port by rail from Sishen in the Northern Cape where it is stockpiled prior to loading onto bulk iron ore carriers for export purposes. The Port also serves base metal mines and an adjacent heavy minerals smelter as well as the crude oil storage facility near the Port. The Port of Saldanha was constructed during the 1970’s to facilitate the export of iron ore, bulk crude oil and break-bulk terminals were subsequently added to the facilities in the Port. In the early 2000’s the first phase of expansion to the iron facility was undertaken, which included expansion of the stockyard area and provision of a second tippler, two additional stacker declaimers and the upgrading of the ship loaders. Various storm water management infrastructures have been constructed within the Port. The Storm Water Master Plan (SWMP) of 2013 for the Port of Saldanha indicates that the existing storm water management infrastructure of certain areas in the Port is inadequate for 1:50 year flood line conditions. As such, if the infrastructure is not upgraded and/or replaced, uncontrolled discharge into the bay and municipal system will be imminent. Consequently, Transnet proposes to undertake the upgrading of the storm water and environmental systems within the Port. The proposed development entails the upgrade of the existing storm water infrastructure in both operational and non-operational areas of the Port in order to improve the storm water infrastructure systems.