A plan to attend to the jet fuel crisis at OR Tambo International Airport has been developed.
Image: File
Fuels industry stakeholders and the transport department adopted a logistical plan for jet fuel at the OR Tambo International Airport following a fuel shortage, Transport Minister Barbara Creecy said.
Creecy said stakeholders such as SASOL and the Fuels Industry Association of South Africa have come on board and a plan was developed last week.
“The logistics plan was developed by the Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) and adopted in the meeting convened by the minister on Friday, January 31, 2025,” her department said.
At the beginning of January, Acsa said it was able to ensure continued fuel supply for the month, following a fire at the National Petroleum Refiners of South Africa (NATREF).
OR Tambo utilises about 3.6 million litres of jet fuel a day and the fire on January 4, caused a major issue in the supply chain.
The plans were as follows: on February 1, the airport’s opening stock was 20.1 million litres of jet fuel. A total of 59 million litres of jet fuel was injected into the pipeline on January 28, and this volume is expected to arrive at the airport by February 6.
Creecy said this will bring a normality for airlines.
“This volume may necessitate the removal of the current restrictions on airlines and bring the fuel supply closer to normal operations,” she said.
Three vessels, expected to arrive on February 5 and February 10, will import 71.5 million litres of jet fuel into Durban.
Thereafter the imported jet fuel will be transported to the OR Tambo International Airport via the pipeline.
The available stock for February is 150.6 million litres of jet fuel.
“This means, there is no longer any shortage of jet fuel for refuelling of airlines across OR Tambo International Airport,” Creecy said.
“In addition, the fuel industry has also agreed to establish a mechanism to share across contracted airlines so that any airline whose supplier runs short is able to access from a non-contracted supplier.”
She further commended the various stakeholders for their collaborative efforts.
robin.francke@iol.co.za
IOL