R6.9 billion investment unlocked at major South African port
Freeport Saldanha has signed a 25-year lease agreement with Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA), unlocking a R6.9 billion investment pipeline.
This follows the conclusion of a Commercial Terms Framework between the two parties, which established the foundations for the lease.
The agreement covers 55 hectares within the Southern Precinct of the Port of Saldanha, the deepest natural port in the Southern Hemisphere.
Situated 140 km northwest of Cape Town in the coastal town of Saldanha, the port serves as Africa’s largest iron-ore export hub, with an iron ore terminal capacity exceeding 60 million tonnes.
The port is linked directly to iron mines some 861 km away in the Northern Cape via the Sishen-Saldanha railway.
Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament, Noko Masipa, said the lease agreement with the TNPA established the long-term security required to unlock R6.9 billion in industrial investment.
This, he said, would further cement the West Coast as one of South Africa’s most important maritime and industrial hubs.
Freeport Saldanha is South Africa’s first, and so far only, Special Economic Zone (SEZ), which is located directly within one of the country’s ports.
Through the integration of customs processes, Masipa said the lease would drive commercial expansion across high-growth sectors such as green hydrogen, marine engineering, logistics, and offshore services.
“When public institutions facilitate private enterprise rather than standing in its way, real economic growth follows,” Masipa said.
“Freeport Saldanha’s position as South Africa’s premier port-integrated SEZ will bring new industrial capacity, boost our export competitiveness, and create thousands of sustainable jobs.”
One of the projects currently under consideration as part of the agreement relates to the expansion of liquefied natural gas (LNG) import and storage capacity.
Other potential projects include marine and bunkering services, industrial development and manufacturing, and energy infrastructure.
The agreement supports Transnet’s “Reinvent for Growth Strategy”, which aims to enhance port efficiency, optimise infrastructure utilisation, and attract investment and sustained long-term growth.
To achieve this, the TNPA has said it would work to position South Africa’s eight commercial seaports as leading logistics hubs in Southern Africa.
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R6.9 billion is being celebrated, but the real question is whether the people of Saldanha Bay will finally benefit. For years, mega-projects have been announced in the port and IDZ precinct while local disadvantaged communities, indigenous Khoi descendants and black businesses remain largely excluded from ownership, decision-making, procurement and meaningful economic participation. Development cannot be called a success when the host community remains unemployed, underrepresented and sidelined. Before another ribbon is cut, Transnet and Freeport Saldanha should publish exactly how local communities have benefited from previous projects and what guarantees exist that this development will be any different. Economic growth that enriches outsiders while excluding the host community is not transformation, it is exploitation.