Новости за 18.04.2024

Norwegian long-haul but low-cost carrier Norse Atlantic Airways announced on Thursday that it was going to launch flights between London, in the UK, and Cape Town, during the Northern autumn/Southern spring later this year. The new service will start on October 28. “We are thrilled to introduce our new route between London and Cape Town,” enthused Norse Atlantic founder and CEO Bjorn Tore Larsen. “By breaking the duopoly on this route, we are not only expanding travel options for consumers but also... Читать дальше...

The World Bank Group and the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group are partnering to provide at least 300-million people in Africa with electricity access by 2030.  The World Bank Group will work to connect 250-million people to electricity through distributed renewable energy systems or the distribution grid, while the AfDB will support electricity connections for a further 50-million people.

Norwegian renewable energy company Scatec has inaugurated the 540 MW Kenhardt solar farm in the Northern Cape. In his keynote address at the event, on April 18, CEO Terje Pilskog commended how far the site has come to producing electricity for South Africa’s grid and reiterated the company’s commitment to the local market.

Cryogenics technology and expertise are becoming increasingly important as South Africa plans on leaning into using liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a major source of energy, Howden senior application engineer Pieter Swart said at mine ventilation solutions developer Howden’s Technology Day, hosted at Mintek, in Johannesburg on April 17. Cryogenics also plays a crucial role in the handling of helium, which plays a critical role in scientific research, medical technology, high-tech manufacturing, space exploration and national defence initiatives... Читать дальше...

Volvo Trucks South Africa (SA) has introduced an equipment-as-a-service (EaaS) model for its new electric truck rentals business. Following last year’s launch of Volvo electric trucks in South Africa, the company has been importing a range of configurations to suit local conditions.

The combination of public and private procurement of large-scale renewables in South Africa signals increased stability for manufacturers of key components, a new GreenCape report argues. Published ahead of the release of the much-anticipated South African Renewable Energy Masterplan (SAREM), which will outline the country’s official approach to localising renewables value chains, GreenCape’s ‘Large-scale Renewable Energy’ report forecast that there will be about 32 GW of installed renewables capacity in South Africa by 2030.

South African investors are holding off on big moves before the vote next month, Goldman Sachs Group said, as the elections shape up to be the most pivotal in 30 years. Assuming the vote is trouble-free, “we could see quite a significant pickup in foreign interest in both equities and debt,” said Simon Denny, chief executive officer for South Africa at Goldman. Interest-rate cuts and progress tackling the nation’s rolling power outages will also be key to attracting more foreign capital, he said.

South Africa will use future drawdowns of its Gold and Foreign Exchange Contingency Reserve Account to curb its debt burden, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said, adding he was pondering tax hikes and expenditure cuts in the next post-election budget. Africa's most industrialised nation is grappling with an ailing economy and high debt ahead of a general election on May 29 that could see the governing African National Congress party lose its parliamentary majority for the first time since the end of apartheid 30 years ago.

The Dube TradePort Corporation, an agency of the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government, has announced that 112 employees, members of the Nehawu trade union, have gone on strike. The workers work in the company’s Bargaining Unit. The corporation has created and operates the Dube TradePort special economic zone and air cargo complex at Durban’s King Shaka International Airport. Nehawu issued the notice to strike after what Dube TradePort described as a “prolonged” process of negotiation and arbitration.

The ‘Aviation Net Zero CO2 Transition Pathways Comparative Review’, which is a joint initiative of the International Air Transport Association (IATA – the global representative body for the airline industry), the Air Transportation Systems Laboratory of the University College London, the Air Transport Action Group, the International Council on Clean Transportation, and the Mission Possible Partnership, has been released. This compares the 14 main roadmaps for aviation’s transition to net-zero ...

South Africa's central bank is now predicted to deliver only 50 basis points of interest rate cuts this year, less than earlier projected as inflation is seen taking slightly longer to return to the Reserve Bank's comfort zone, a Reuters poll found. A cut of 25 bps to 8.00% next quarter, either in July or September, is expected from the Reserve Bank, according to a survey carried out in the past week, compared with 50 bps predicted in a March poll.

Two South African engineers working in Equatorial Guinea’s offshore oil fields were preparing to return home in February 2023 when they were arrested for cocaine trafficking and thrown in jail, where they remain. Both men, their families and their employer have declared their innocence. They were detained days after a South African court ordered the seizure of one of Equatorial Guinean vice-president Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue’s yachts. The two incidents are linked, said people familiar with the... Читать дальше...

South Africa’s high interest rates continue to pressurise the finances of households amid the ongoing restrictive monetary policy stance by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB). The latest Altron FinTech Household Resilience Index (AFHRI) shows that, over the past two years, the country’s benchmark prime lending rate has been raised consistently to almost 12% – the highest level in 14 years.