Cape Town: Member of the Mayoral Committee for Economic Growth – Alderman James Vos has announced the launch of Metso in the town. The company has selected Cape Town as home for their new bulk material handling hub.
Vos said that they are encouraged to see more global companies choosing to invest in Cape Town, a clear vote of confidence in our city, our people, and our growing economy.
This investment goes beyond infrastructure. It strengthens the port ecosystem, improves logistics efficiency, and supports the kind of innovation needed to keep the economy moving forward, particularly within the transport and maritime sectors.
Economic growth is built through partnerships. As the City of Cape Town, they remain committed to make it easier to do business, from investment facilitation to opening new markets and creating an enabling environment where businesses can thrive.
Cape Town is open for business, and they are just getting started.
Metso has expanded its global bulk-materials handling network with the opening of a new regional hub in Cape Town. The Finnish group supplies technologies, solutions and services to the aggregates, minerals processing and metals refining industries worldwide.
The Cape Town operation adds-up to the group’s local presence in Centurion, Gauteng. Metso employs about 160 people at its Centurion head office and expects to have added about 60 employees, largely local hires at the Cape Town office by year-end. This will take Metso’s Africa headcount to about 500 by December.
Metso Africa President – Ian Barnard said that the Cape Town office will serve as a springboard for the group’s port ambitions on the continent, by supporting existing operations and pursuing new opportunities. He points to markets, such as Kenya, Ghana, Mozambique and Namibia as potential growth areas.
In South Africa, Metso’s responsibilities include looking after port equipment at Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) dry-bulk terminals in Saldanha, Gqeberha and Richards Bay. Barnard said that it is part of their strategy to be closer to the customers.
Metso’s African business currently contributes about 10% of global revenue, with an opportunity for this to grow to between 15% and 20%. Barnard noted that they want to double the contribution from Africa in the next five years.
He added that they can see that African governments are increasingly focused on localisation, on local beneficiation, which creates massive opportunities for a company such as theirs.
Metso chief growth officer Jon Allen said that the company has a large installed equipment base in Southern Africa, with many of these aging machines now in need of refurbishment and upgrading. He also stated that this need also informed Metso’s decision to expand in Cape Town.
Metso is now in year two of a seven-year, R500-million deal with TPT to provide technical support, parts and skills, to equipment at the parastatal’s Saldanha, Gqeberha and Richards Bay dry-bulk terminals. The iron-ore hub of Saldanha accounts for roughly 70% of Metso’s South Africa ports business.