Windhoek
TransNamib has agreed to purchase 90 sulphuric acid rail tankers for US$10 million from China Railway Materials (CRM) Hong Kong. Acting CEO of TransNamib Hippy Tjivikua and chairman of the Board of Directors of CRM Hong Kong, Hu Zhengyong, signed the purchase agreement last week.
According to the agreement, TransNamib can expect delivery of the tankers in July next year. The tankers are made according to specifications of the Dundee Precious Metals Tsumeb acid plant to maximise operational efficiency and safety. This latest acquisition follows a previous purchase of tankers from CRM Hong Kong, which TransNamib says are currently still in use.
Like the six locomotives TransNamib recently acquired from General Electric, the 90 sulphuric acid tankers will be deployed to execute the 10-year sulphuric acid rail transport agreement TransNamib entered into with Dundee Precious Metals Tsumeb. Experts estimate the agreement to be worth billions of dollars.
“Dundee Precious Metals Tsumeb has approved the technical specifications and quality of the tankers and they are quite happy to receive the delivery as promised by China Railway Materials Hong Kong by July 2016,” Tjivikua said.
Following a rigorous procurement process, which started about three years ago, the negotiations and development of the purchase agreement was sanctioned by the TransNamib governance structures.
“Our shareholder, the Namibian government through the Ministry of Works and Transport, supported the process and acquisition of the 90 sulphuric acid rail tankers and we regard our partnership with our shareholder as healthy as ever,” Tjivikua confirmed.
“The execution of this agreement is an important milestone in the fulfillment of TransNamib’s obligations to transport sulphuric acid from Tsumeb to Arandis, as part of our 10-year agreement with Dundee Precious Metal Tsumeb,” the acting CEO of TransNamib remarked.
The chairman of CRM Hong Kong expressed satisfaction with his company’s relationship with TransNamib.
“Our relationship comes a long way and TransNamib has already bought good quality wagons from China Railway Materials before and we are pleased to learn that TransNamib is indeed satisfied with the wagons. We want to assure the Namibian public that these 90 sulphuric acid rail tankers will be of excellent quality and TransNamib will receive a return on this investment,” Hu Zhengyong said.