New cruise terminal still on the cards

TRANSNET is still committed
to the development of a new
cruise terminal in Cape Town
and is expected to announce a
successful bidder in April, says
Coen Birkenstock, manager of
Corporate Affairs at Transnet
National Ports Authority.
“Our bidding process for the
facility closed on February 5
and an evaluation process
followed locally, with numerous
corporate governance
processes and evaluations
to identify the most suitable
bidder. We have now reached
the recommendation stage
and during April we should
be able to announce the
successful bidder.”
DA Shadow Minister of
Tourism, James Vos, has been
critical of the government’s
“lack of urgency” in building
a dedicated cruise terminal.
“If it was in the interest of the
government to build one, which
they know will benefit tourism
and create full-time permanent
jobs, they would have built it
by now.
“The City of Cape Town is
poised to become a cruise
tourism hot-spot in South
Africa, and the construction
of dedicated cruise liner
infrastructure in the city will
have vast benefits for regional
job creation and economic
development,” said James.
According to Coen, once
the successful bidder is
announced, negotiations
and signing of the terminal
operation agreement will take
place until the end of June,
after which construction will
begin.