JSE-listed Basil Read on Tuesday noted that it was being featured in a new series of UK postage stamps acknowledging the construction of a new airport on the island of St Helena, a British territory 2 300 km west of Walvis Bay, Namibia.

Basil Read St Helena Airport project director Jimmy Johnston said the stamps, one of which featured the NP Glory vessel with the Basil Read brand clearly visible, celebrated Basil Read’s role in the design, construction and operation of the airport, while also signifying the end of St Helena’s isolation from the rest of the world.

Once the projected construction of the first phase of the airport was completed by Basil Read in February 2016, the travel time from Cape Town to St Helena would be shaved down from seven days, or 168 hours, to a mere five hours, he said.

Key activities associated with the permanent works on the project included the construction of a 14 km access road to the airport site, a 1 950-m-long concrete runway and a terminal building, an air traffic control tower and other buildings.

For the Basil Read team, the opening of the airport would mark an end to what it describes as the most complex project ever undertaken by the company.

“Although the construction of the airport runway had its engineering challenges, the logistics involved are what made the project extremely daunting,” Johnston said.

The company explained that, following the commissioning of the R4.7-billion project by the British Department for International Development, all goods and equipment had to be transferred to the island, which involved Basil Read chartering a 2 500 t vessel for the duration of the project.

“About 70 000 t of goods, including 18-million litres of diesel, 25 000 t of cement and 5 000 t of explosives had to be transported to our Walvis Bay bond yard for transportation. Sailing time to St Helena with supplies was a seven-day task, with an overall shipping cycle taking about 22 days.

“The project required skills ranging from civil construction and road works and building, through to opencast mining and marine works, effectively using most of the company’s ‘in-house’ capabilities. Subcontractors, with capabilities that varied from environmental-impact studies to architecture and bulk fuel installation, completed the team,” Johnston said.

Further, once the construction had been completed, Basil Read would be responsible for the operation of the facility for ten years.

Basil Read would assume responsibility for supplying the necessary services, ranging from air traffic control to the training and deployment of firefighters, until the project was transferred in its entirety to the St Helena government.

Specialists from South Africa assisting Basil Read with this phase of operations would include teams from Lanseria Airport and the Air Traffic and Navigation Services company, which supplied air traffic personnel to all major South African airports.

“Basil Read will be responsible for ensuring the necessary certifications are acquired and that the airport is fully fenced and operational. Initially, it is expected that there will be one arrival and departure at the airport every week.

“The value of the project will lie in its ability to enable people who used to live on the island, and still have homes there, to visit more regularly. It will also attract tourists who are interested in history, as well as those interested in sports such as scuba-diving, fishing, and also in walking and sight-seeing,” Johnston noted.