Transnet opens 25-year LNG terminal bid at East London port

A private company will design, finance, build and run a liquefied natural gas terminal at the Port of East London for 25 years before handing it back to the state, under a concession the Transnet National Ports Authority has now put out to tender.

The terminal is planned for a greenfield site of roughly 8 900m² in the port’s West Bank precinct. It is sized for small to medium scale LNG imports rather than bulk volumes, and is meant to serve niche gas consumers and industrial users in the Eastern Cape.

The winning bidder carries the full life of the asset, being design, financing, construction, operation and maintenance, along with the terminal’s operational and safety systems. At the end of the concession the terminal transfers to the ports authority.

Why the port is doing this

East London’s port manager, Dr Sphiwe Mthembu, said the project is intended to draw private-sector money into the port and expand what the port can handle.

“This initiative represents a significant milestone in unlocking new investment opportunities within the port,” Mthembu said.

The ports authority said the tender follows a strong response from potential terminal operators during its earlier Expression of Interest process, which it read as an appetite for LNG infrastructure at the port. The development forms part of its strategy to diversify port infrastructure against future energy demand in the province.

Mthembu said the terminal is expected to support strategic energy infrastructure and open opportunities for new industries and trade, with direct and indirect employment in the Eastern Cape among the expected outcomes.

The gas question is not hypothetical for Eastern Cape business. Industry groupings have warned that the country is moving toward a gas supply crunch as existing fields decline, and the Eastern Cape’s manufacturing base is among the users watching for a replacement supply. A terminal at East London, if it is built, would give the province a second import route alongside the existing infrastructure at Coega.

What bidders need to know

A briefing session is scheduled for 29 September 2026 at 10:00am. Attendance is not compulsory.

Proposals close on 22 February 2027. The request for proposal documents are available through National Treasury.

The concession structure puts the capital cost on the private operator and keeps the land and the asset in public hands at the end of the term, the model the ports authority has been applying across its terminal expansion programme as it seeks private partners for infrastructure it cannot fund alone.

The East London tender is one of several private-operator processes running across the Transnet group as it moves to bring outside capital and operators into rail and port terminals. Whether the LNG project moves from tender to steel depends on what comes back by February, and on the operator’s ability to line up gas buyers in the province before construction begins.

Source: Moneyweb, TNPA opens bidding for 25-year East London LNG port project