Volume II - The Northern Cape Provincial Spatial Development ...

Northern Cape PSDF
Volume 2
20 August 2011.
Office of the Premier &
Department of Rural Development & Land Reform
140
December 2011
suitable as a facility for the long‐term parking of mothballed aircrafts. Airlink flies to Upington and
the charter company Walker Flying Services is based there.
The Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA) has identified Upington as an alternative or
supplement for Oliver Tambo Airport for cargo traffic. According to ASCA the feasibility of
upgrading of the airport to cater for the demand in international freight transport of the local
table grape industry and others is being explored. The establishment of an International
Development Zone (IDZ) at the Upington airport has been proposed to further enhance its
strategic importance for the local, regional and provincial economy. An adequate volume of cargo
is generated in the western and eastern region of South Africa and Nambia to warrant the
establishment of a cargo hub at Upington (//Khara Hais SDF, 2009).
The benefits for cargo airlines and importers and exporters would be greater when using the
Upington Airport, as there is less congestion and quicker airport turnaround times, shorter‐to‐
market timeframes which would enhance product freshness by one day, and improved supply‐
chain performance. It is also envisaged that, once a regular service by a reputable airline is
established, many new projects will start up and many new projects will start up and many
existing commodities will grow in volume. In particular, meat exports from Groblershoop will
double and Namibian meat exports will come to Upington (Davenport, 2006) 66 .
The Northern Cape has many good landing strips. The Sishen airfield is a licensed aerodrome and
serves the mining industry in the north‐eastern part of the province, while the Namaqua District
Municipality has three good airstrips at Calvinia (a private field which is 1 250m long), Springbok
and Alexander Bay. The Gariep Dam airstrip is tarred and with a 1 360m runway it can cater for
Learjets 67 .
F.3.1.3 RAILWAYS
The rail network in the Northern Cape spanned approximately 2 816 km of which 1 557 km was
electrified and 1 303 km was diesel operated. The mining industry was served by two major rail
lines – the Sishen‐Saldanha (orex) line and the Hotazel‐Sishen‐Port Elizabeth managenese line.
The rural areas had historically relied on branch lines for freight transport for agriculture and also
small scale mining. Most of these branch lines had closed or experienced drastic reduction in the
frequency of services (PGDS).
The Northern Cape has two of the most significant railway structures in South Africa, namely the
junction at De Aar, which binds the whole western side of the country, and the Sishen‐Saldanha
railway line. De Aar, already an important terminus, is being targeted as the site of a freight
intermodal terminal. A detailed proposal has been put to the provincial Freight Logistics Forum.
De Aar has 110km of rail lines.
The key task of the Sishen‐Saldanha railway line is to transport iron ore from mines in the
Northern Cape to the Port of Saldanha. The province’s manganese is transported via the general
freight line to Port Elizabeth but the port city’s inability to cope with increased volumes is leading
66
Davenport, J. 2006: Study finds that a cargo hub at Upington would boost Northern Cape economy. Engineering
news. 2 June 2006.
67
http://www.northerncapebusiness.co.za/pls/cms/ti_secout.secout_prov?p_sid=43&p_site_id=164 –accessed on
Dennis Moss Partnership