RBCT approves bridging capacity

摘要

Four black empowerment companies finally received a boost from the Coal Industry Task Force, when 415,000 mt of bridging capacity at the Richards Bay terminal was awarded to them last week. At a two-hour meeting on Tuesday, the task force approved committee recommendations that the tonnage be awarded to Makkau Mining, Endelwini Resources Imbani Coal and Ilanga Coal, though all received marginally less than they had applied for. Awards were made by assessing the ability of all applicants to fill four requirements, including their proportion of black ownership and whether they had rates agreed on the rail side. One million mt of capacity had been set aside for common users this year to appease the government, which had been demanding that common users receive access to Richards Bay even before the Phase V expansion plan launched. Available each month to common users is 83,000 mt, and with five months of the year left now, that comes to 415,000 mt.