French construction firm Colas has agreed a long-term deal with South African firm FFS Refiners to operate four out of five new bitumen tanks at a major terminal in Durban once the latter has completed an expansion project there.
International bitumen trading and shipping firm Rubis Asphalt is to take control of the remaining tank. The new tanks will have a combined 13,000m³ (13,252t) of capacity.
The expansion, which will take the terminal's total bitumen tank capacity to 20,500m³ (20,898t), had been due for completion in the first quarter of this year but is now expected to be ready in second half of this year.
Rubis already operates FFS' existing bitumen tank capacity at the Durban terminal under a long-term deal through to 2035, with the same arrangement and timeframe applying to the firm's use of 4,800t of FFS bitumen tank capacity in Cape Town.
Rubis and Continental Bitumen, the international trading arm of Colas, regularly supply cargoes to Durban and Cape Town. The 21,500dwt Continental tanker Atlantic Narval, is scheduled to arrive at Durban for a likely part-cargo discharge on 2 March having loaded in a ship-to-ship transfer off Rubis' west African terminal hub at Lome in Togo.
South African bitumen imports have been rising sharply since 2020. Prior to that, before nearly all of the country's bitumen-producing refineries were shut down, little to none was imported. The 107,000 b/d Natref refinery in Sasolburg is South Africa's only remaining bitumen-producing refinery.
According to Vortexa data, South African bitumen cargo imports totalled nearly 200,000t last year, up from around 175,000t in 2023, most of which went to Durban. Mideast Gulf storage points, along with the Bapco refinery and export terminal at Sitra in Bahrain, supplied around a third of South Africa's total bulk cargo imports in 2024, while emerging exporter Pakistan shipped 8pc.
Mediterranean suppliers, mainly Greece and Turkey, made up just over half of the cargo flows to South Africa last year, with Rubis and Continental supplying the bulk. The new Durban tanks will add to Colas' considerable presence in the southern Africa region where it has long been involved in road project work and the supply of construction materials.
