Rome, 23 November 2016
FS is also looking at the South African market to develop its international business. Working as a consortium (35%) with two other South African partners, Southern Palace (45%), an investment and construction company operating in many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, and Makoya (20%), which specialises in railway logistics, FS is participating in a tender for the design, construction and management of a next-gen intermodal terminal near Johannesburg.
If it is awarded the contract, the consortium, which submitted its technical and economic proposal on 27 October 2016, will be the licensed operating company for at least 20 years until the hand-over to Transnet Freight Rail, a South African railway company operating in the freight sector fully owned by Transnet (the South African State Railway).
The project, known as “Tambo Spring”, is part of a development programme (Transnet Market Demand Strategy) financed by the South African government to the tune of 300 billion Rand (€18 billion) with 200 billion (€12 billion) allocated to Transnet Freight Rail to increase the volume of freight traffic by rail. The FS Italiane Group is therefore launching a penetration process into the South African market in the logistics sector, including, through its partnership with Southern Palace, the acquisition of projects and the transfer of know-how in station commercial development and the maintenance of railway infrastructure.
The President and CEO of Southern Palace will be in Italy over the coming days and having met the CEO and the President of the FS Group, Renato Mazzoncini and Gioia Ghezzi, they will visit the Roma Termini and Roma Tiburtina stations, as well as Padua station in the Veneto and Quadrante Europa, an intermodal centre in Verona owned by RFI and run by Terminali Italia. The purpose of the visit is to take stock of FS’s hands-on experience gained in the commercial management of large and medium-sized stations and intermodal terminals.