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Perkins 5016 EP engine (Image source: Perkins)

Energy

Perkins has unveiled its latest power generation engine designed to support Africa’s growing energy demands across the data centre industry, healthcare, airports and remote worksites

Its new 5016 full-authority electronic engine for power generation is now in production in both India and the UK and available for markets in Africa and worldwide, offering reliable power, fuel efficiency and robust load acceptance.

The full range of 6-, 8-, 12-and 16-cylinder 5000 Series engines offer up to 2500 kVA of standby power and up to 2250 kVA of prime power for customers around the world.

The new 5016 delivers a powerful 1400-2500 kVA range at 50 Hz for base load, prime and standby applications.As with all engines in the 5000 Series range, the 61-litre, V16 configuration engine has been designed specifically for power generation.

The 5016 is engineered to offer reliable power at worksites where uptime matters.

“With the 5016 in production, we have a comprehensive range of 6-, 8-, 12-and 16-cylinder full-authority electronic engines, delivering up to 2500 kVA, available to power our customers’ prime and critical standby applications,” said Dan Bentley, EAME sales director at Perkins.

Fuel efficiency benefits

Engineered to meet ISO G3 and NFPA110 standards to handle demanding load acceptance challenges, the 5016 uses a pair of smaller turbochargers on each bank, which are designed to reduce transient response time when compared with a single large unit.Its exhaust manifolds are engineered to optimise gas flow to the turbochargers, further reducing ramp-up time and enhancing load acceptance.

The power unit is also built to world-class standards for optimised efficiency and improved fuel consumption.

An advanced electronically controlled fuel injection system precisely manages fuel delivery to optimise combustion, improving engine efficiency, reducing fuel consumption and supporting lower emissions.

The engine also incorporates a unique low-pressure fuel system developed specifically for the 5000 Series, providing excellent tolerance to variations in fuel quality and enabling operation on biodiesel blends up to B20 or 100% HVO1.

The use of renewable HVO fuel can reduce lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions, helping customers meet their sustainability goals while maintaining engine performance and reliability, with low oil consumption and extended 750-hour service intervals helping to minimise waste, reduce maintenance requirements and lower total cost of ownership.

Ideal for fast-growing territories

While particularly well suited to data centre and critical power installations, the company believes the 5016 is an attractive choice for other high-power applications around the world, including projects in rapidly growing territories where demand for dependable large-engine solutions continues to increase.

“The 5006, 5008 and 5012 models are already delivering dependable power in a wide variety of electric power generation installations around the world,” said Bentley.

Equipped with the latest technology to operate at peak efficiency over its full rated output range, the 5016 has been designed as a compact package, making it an ideal choice for space-limited applications.

Electronically controlled injectors can alter both timing and pressure to accommodate a broad range of ambient temperatures and altitudes without sacrificing performance.

Working together with the advanced turbocharging technology developed for the 5000 Series the combination has been proven to help optimise load acceptance, altitude capability and fuel consumption.

“The extensive endurance testing work across the range, including the 5016, means I have every confidence that the 16-cylinder will also meet our customers’ expectations for uptime,” added Bentley.

As with all Perkins engines, the 5000 Series is backed by Perkins’ global service and support network of authorised distributors offering connectivity and condition monitoring solutions and ongoing engine maintenance and repair.

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Telehandlers are among the Wacker Neuson compact machines supplied by newly appointed dealer Welgro in Mpumalanga (Image source: Wacker Neuson)

Construction

Wacker Neuson South Africa has expanded its dealer network and reinforced its presence in Mpumalanga with the appointment of Welgro Engineering and Mining Supplies

“Welgro’s established sales network, fully equipped workshop and service infrastructure, together with its proven track record across the mining, engineering, construction and agricultural sectors, made the partnership the natural choice,” said Eric Berrington, Wacker Neuson’s regional manager for Gauteng, Limpopo, and Mpumalanga.

Welgro Engineering and Mining Supplies is a provider of industrial and construction equipment solutions that has served the region for 40 years.

“The dealership also represents several respected international brands that demand a high standard of technical expertise and aftersales support, giving us further confidence in Welgro’s ability to successfully support customers over the long term,” added Berrington.

He said Welgro’s alignment with Wacker Neuson’s core values, together with recommendations from multiple industry contacts, prompted Wacker Neuson to initiate discussions.

“Welgro Engineering and Mining Supplies has built its business on long-term relationships, practical product knowledge and dependable service, with a steadfast focus on first understanding each customer’s operation before recommending the right solution to support sustainable operations,” said Kyle Handley, managing director at Welgro.

“Because every site and operation faces unique pressures, from production deadlines to safety requirements and downtime challenges, we adopt a hands-on, consultative approach, supporting customers with a wide range of industrial and construction solutions, backed by experienced sales and technical staff and a well-equipped workshop.

”Playing a vital role in the national economy, Mpumalanga is central to Wacker Neuson’s dealer expansion strategy, with the company’s approach anchored around three key hubs – Mbombela, eMalahleni and Secunda – and aligned to the industries driving growth across the province.

Handley outlined key reasons why Welgro was eager to partner with Wacker Neuson, including product quality and reliability, as well as strong reputation in construction, plant hire and infrastructure development.

He said customers want high-performing, dependable equipment that helps optimise their operations, and highlighted Wacker Neuson’s machines as well-engineered, robust and built for tough working environments.

“The machines are practical, intuitive and productivity-driven – qualities that resonate with operators.”

Under the dealership agreement, Welgro will supply Wacker Neuson’s full range of compact machines, including mini excavators, telehandlers and wheel loaders; construction equipment, including pumps and lighting towers; compaction equipment, including rammers and plate compactors; concrete technology, including external vibrators; and other specialised worksite solutions.

The range is positioned to support the diverse requirements of customers across the construction, agricultural, mining and related industries.

“Our immediate focus is on building a strong, reliable offering around Wacker Neuson’s products already in demand locally, expanding the range over time in line with customers’ changing requirements,” said Handley.

“Compact machines and equipment are especially well-suited to the market, with the capability to perform efficiently in confined spaces – a quality that is highly valued across the sectors. We also expect to see strong demand for lighting towers, particularly in mining, where reliable site illumination is critical for safety and productivity.”

He said there are also “compelling growth prospects” for electric and zero-emission equipment.

“We are ready to introduce more of Wacker Neuson’s electric product ranges to support customers with sustainable, efficient, environmentally conscious and forward-looking solutions.” 

Understanding post-closure water quality (Image source: Adobe Stock)

Mining

Mine closure is often discussed as something that happens at the end of a mine’s life — in reality, many of the most important closure decisions are made much earlier; while the mine is still being designed, financed, operated, and assessed. Water is one of the clearest examples, writes Shameer Hareeparsad, director: geochemistry, WSP in Africa

Once underground workings begin to flood after closure, groundwater starts interacting with the materials left behind. Those interactions can influence water quality for decades. They may determine whether closure plans are credible, whether regulators have confidence in the proposed management measures, and whether surrounding groundwater systems are protected over the long-term.

For underground mines that use paste backfill, this presents a specific question: how will the backfilled material behave once it is saturated after closure?

Paste backfill has an important role in modern underground mining. It can support excavations, improve ground stability, allow mined-out voids to be filled with mineralised residues, and reduce the amount of tailings placed on surface. These are significant benefits. However, backfill should not only be assessed for how well it can be placed underground or how it performs structurally during operations. It also needs to be understood as a geochemical material that may interact with groundwater once the mine has closed.

Understanding the geochemical source

That requires a different kind of prediction. One of the practical tools used in this kind of prediction is a geochemical source term. It refers to the estimated quality and loading of water that may be released from a material into the receiving environment. Put more simply, it helps answer a practical question: what could this material contribute to groundwater, and under what conditions?

Post-closure water quality must be predicted using the best available evidence, while still recognising the uncertainty involved in modelling systems that will evolve underground over long periods.

Underground nickel mine assessment

In a recent underground nickel mine assessment, the paste aggregate fill included sulphide-bearing tailings, crushed waste rock, process residues, and a slag-based cement binder with an additional binder aid. From a geochemical perspective, this is not an inert blend. The tailings contain sulphide minerals that could generate acidity under certain conditions. At the same time, the binder contributes alkalinity, which can help buffer that acidity once the system becomes saturated.

The question, therefore, was not whether the material was “safe” or “unsafe”. The more relevant question was how the material was likely to behave as groundwater returned to the stopes after mining ceased.

To answer this, the assessment considered two main mechanisms by which solutes could move from the backfill into groundwater. The first is advection, where water movement carries dissolved constituents through pore spaces. The second is diffusion, in which constituents move more slowly due to concentration differences between the backfill and the surrounding water.

During the early flooding period, advective movement can be more significant because hydraulic gradients remain, and more soluble constituents may be flushed from the material. As the system becomes fully saturated and those gradients weaken, diffusion is expected to become more important over the longer term.

Laboratory testing provided the basis for this assessment. Modified triaxial permeability testing was used to estimate advective porewater quality, while the Leaching Environmental Assessment Framework method was used to derive diffusion coefficients. These results were then used to inform groundwater modelling and closure planning.

The results showed a material with low hydraulic conductivity, which limits bulk water movement through the backfill. The long-term porewater chemistry was predicted to remain strongly alkaline and dominated by calcium and chloride. Under those conditions, most metals are expected to remain at low concentrations in solution.

The early flushing period is different. The upper-case scenario, which represents a cautious view of what could happen during initial saturation, showed short-lived increases in certain constituents, including calcium, chloride, sodium, potassium, strontium, and copper. This is important because closure planning must account not only for the eventual stable condition, but also for the transitional period when a flooded underground system is still adjusting.

That does not mean the early-stage results should be treated as a forecast of permanent water quality. In the modelling, those upper-case conditions were deliberately conservative. The assessment applied cautious assumptions, including high mass-transfer rates and the exclusion of some secondary mineral reactions that could reduce dissolved concentrations.

Why conservative modelling matters

This approach is intended to avoid understating the potential loading to groundwater.

That precaution is essential. In mine closure, overconfidence is expensive. If predictions are overly optimistic, the consequences may not become visible for years, when treatment requirements, environmental impacts, or liability concerns are far harder to manage. A conservative model does not remove uncertainty, but it gives project teams, regulators, and other decision-makers a more defensible starting point.

This is also why site-specific testing matters. It is tempting to borrow assumptions from other operations or to rely on generic expectations about how paste backfill should behave. That is seldom good enough. The mineralogy, binder chemistry, groundwater setting, saturation rate, and underground geometry all influence how a backfilled stope may perform after closure.

Why site-specific testing matters

No laboratory programme can perfectly reproduce the underground environment over the course of decades. Temperature, groundwater chemistry, hydraulic gradients, mineral reactivity, and stope-scale flow paths will always introduce uncertainty. But a structured approach can narrow that uncertainty and make it easier to refine predictions as monitoring data becomes available during operations and after mining has ceased.

Planning for uncertainty

The scrutiny around closure plans is also changing. Regulators, financiers, communities, and internal governance teams increasingly expect mining companies to show not only that a closure plan exists, but that it is based on credible evidence and can be adapted as conditions change.

Paste backfill can play an important role in more responsible underground mining and closure design. But its value depends on understanding both its structural and geochemical performance. A material that works well operationally still needs to be assessed for how it may behave once the mine is no longer active and groundwater conditions begin to recover.

Bringing water quality into closure planning

The broader lesson is that post-closure water quality should not be treated as something to discover after flooding has occurred. It should be part of the design conversation from the outset.

Better prediction will not eliminate every closure risk. Mining systems are too complex for that. But it can help the industry make more informed decisions, identify where monitoring is needed, and demonstrate that long-term water protection has been considered before the mine reaches the end of its life.

That is where closure planning needs to move: not towards false certainty, but towards evidence strong enough to support responsible decisions in conditions that will always carry some uncertainty.

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Hapag-Lloyd strengthens shipping presence across Africa. (Image source: Hapag-Lloyd)

Logistics

Hapag-Lloyd is expanding its presence across Africa by opening new offices in Namibia, Rwanda and Burundi, strengthening its local customer support and regional network

Effective 1 October 2026, the company will establish its own office in Namibia and introduce a new setup in Kigali, Rwanda, serving customers in both Rwanda and Burundi. The developments strengthen Hapag-Lloyd’s operations across Southern and East Africa, enabling the company to combine local market knowledge and customer proximity with the wider reach of its African and global network.

Africa is becoming increasingly significant in global trade as economies expand, trade flows develop and connections with international markets strengthen. The evolution of supply chains across the continent, alongside rising demand for dependable international coSW5nnectivity, is creating new opportunities for businesses and communities. Hapag-Lloyd’s latest investments reflect its strategy of moving closer to customers while continuing to develop local expertise, capabilities and network connections.

The company’s expanded footprint includes a new office in Walvis Bay, which will establish Hapag-Lloyd’s own local presence in Namibia. In East Africa, the new Kigali setup will serve customers in Rwanda and Burundi, extending the company’s reach into two landlocked markets while connecting them to its regional and international network.

The Kigali operation will build on Hapag-Lloyd’s existing connectivity in East Africa. The company currently operates two weekly services through Dar es Salaam, supporting imports and exports from Rwanda and Burundi with direct connections to India and the Far East. The new setup in Kigali will complement these services by providing customers in both countries with closer access to Hapag-Lloyd’s support and local market expertise.

“Strengthening our presence in Namibia, Rwanda and Burundi is an important milestone in the continued development of Hapag-Lloyd in Africa,” said Jesper Kanstrup, managing director Sub-Region Africa at Hapag-Lloyd.

“Africa is a highly diverse continent, and serving our customers successfully requires a strong understanding of the individual markets in which they operate. By strengthening our presence, we combine local industry knowledge and customer proximity with the reach of Hapag-Lloyd’s global network. Each market offers different opportunities, and this expansion reflects our long-term commitment to our customers and to Africa.”

The expansion forms part of Hapag-Lloyd’s wider Strategy 2030 ambitions, with Africa continuing to feature in the company’s growth plans. By investing in local teams and market expertise and maintaining close relationships with customers, authorities and partners, Hapag-Lloyd aims to develop an organisation capable of responding to the specific requirements of individual African markets while connecting them to its global liner network.

The new operations in Namibia, Rwanda and Burundi represent another stage in Hapag-Lloyd’s African expansion and underline its long-term commitment to developing alongside customers across the continent.

Africa can still thrive amid global geopolitical upheaval (Image source: Adobe Stock)

Finance

Africa has an opportunity to convert geopolitical tensions and shifting global trade patterns into a catalyst for industrialisation and long-term economic resilience, according to a new Afreximbank report

Leveraging Geopolitics for Trade and Industrialisation in Global Africa examines trade and economic developments across the continent and globally, and outlines strategies for African nations to benefit from supply chain realignments and changing geopolitical dynamics.

“Africa stands at a critical juncture,” said Dr Yemi Kale, group chief economist and managing director of research and trade intelligence at Afreximbank.

“Geopolitical tensions and economic fragmentation are reshaping global trade patterns, but they also present a historic opportunity for the continent. By strategically leveraging these shifts, Africa can build a more resilient, competitive and inclusive economic future.”

Despite a challenging global backdrop, the report highlights Africa’s strong recent economic performance.

While global economic growth slowed to 3.4% in 2025 and is projected to ease further to 3.1% in 2026, Africa’s real GDP growth accelerated from 3.4% in 2024 to 4.5% in 2025, outperforming the global average.

Africa’s merchandise trade also expanded by 6.1% to approximately US$1.5 trillion, while aggregate inflation fell significantly from 21.6% in 2024 to 13.1% in 2025.

According to Afreximbank, these gains reflect improved macroeconomic management, ongoing policy reforms and the role of development finance institutions in supporting economic stability.

However, the report warns that significant structural challenges remain.

Africa’s trade finance gap is estimated at approximately US$74bn in 2025, limiting the continent’s ability to fully capitalise on trade and industrial opportunities.

The situation is compounded by foreign exchange constraints and a continued decline in correspondent banking relationships.

The report also notes that evolving shipping routes and persistent disruptions in global logistics networks are increasing freight costs and extending delivery times, particularly for economies dependent on imported inputs and external markets.

To strengthen resilience, Afreximbank identifies accelerated implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), expansion of the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) and reforms to the global financial architecture as key priorities.

The report notes that stronger industrial ecosystems, increased intra-African trade and sustained financial support will be critical if the continent is to transform geopolitical disruption into sustainable and inclusive economic growth.

“It is imperative for the continent to act decisively to strengthen regional value chains, deepen industrial capacity, expand access to trade finance, and accelerate continental integration,” said Kale, adding that Africa “cannot afford to delay.”

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Wang Jiazhong, senior vice president of Yadea Technology Group, pictured with Spiro’s CEO Anant Badjatya (Image source: Spiro)

Manufacturing

African mobility group Spiro has signed a partnership with Yadea to scale accessible and sustainable electric transport across the continent

The partnership comes as Spiro accelerates its next phase of growth and expansion across Africa following its latest US$270mn funding round, which included investment from NewTrails Capital, a Chinese fund.

Yadea, founded in China, is the world's leading manufacturer of electric two-wheelers, with more than 100 million vehicles sold worldwide in over 100 countries and 10 exclusive production facilities globally.

Under the agreement, Yadea will supply electric two-wheelers and related EV products tailored to Spiro’s expanding regional markets, while Spiro will integrate the vehicles into its proprietary battery-swapping and energy infrastructure.

The companies will also co-develop customised two-wheeler platforms engineered specifically for local road conditions and commercial utility across Africa.

“Africa’s shift to electric mobility is accelerating and this partnership helps us meet that demand at scale,” said Anant Badjatya, CEO of Spiro.

“By bringing together Yadea’s manufacturing strength with Spiro’s electric mobility ecosystem and operating experience across Africa, we are compressing the timeline to clean transport — helping thousands more riders switch to affordable EVs faster and multiplying our climate impact across the continent.”

Spiro already boasts an operational network and battery-swapping ecosystem across seven countries.

Together, the companies aim to build a scalable, commercially sustainable EV framework serving millions of commercial fleet operators, delivery services, logistics providers, and daily commuters in Africa’s fastest-growing mobility markets.

“Our strategic partnership with Yadea…opens fantastic opportunities to jointly pioneer the next era of electric mobility in emerging markets”, said Gagan Gupta, Spiro’s founder.

Wang Jiazhong, senior vice president of Yadea Technology Group, said Africa represents a huge frontier for zero-emission transport.

“Our mission to reduce carbon emissions has reached a powerful milestone through this partnership with Spiro. Together, we are combining global innovation with local infrastructure to deliver scalable and sustainable mobility solutions that serve millions of riders and transform Africa’s urban transit.”

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