Name of the Project
Durban port upgrade and expansion project.

Location
KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Client
The Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) and Transnet Port Terminals (TPT), divisions of freight logistics company Transnet.

Project Description
The Port of Durban handles about 64% of the country’s seaborne cargo, with the Durban Container Terminal (DCT) being the biggest and busiest in the southern hemisphere.

Transnet is implementing an ambitious expansion project at the Durban port and its container terminals, comprising several individual work packages, to increase the DCT’s container-handling capacity.

The main projects include the expansion of the DCT Pier 1, which aims to increase the capacity of the terminal to 2.4-million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). This includes the Salisbury Island project, also known as the Pier 1 Phase 2 Infill project.

The TNPA also plans to deepen berths 203 to 205 at the DCT, which could raise the capacity of Pier 2 from 2.4-million TEUs to 2.9-million TEUs.

The berths will be deepened from 12.8 m to 16.5 m and lengthened from 914 m to 1 210 m to enable the DCT to handle three 350 m vessels simultaneously. The projects are expected to increase the DCT’s capacity from 3.6-million TEUs to about 5.3-million TEUs.

Capacity is also being created at other terminals, such as the Durban Ro-Ro and Maydon Wharf terminals, through the acquisition of new equipment, including mobile cranes and various infrastructure upgrades.

At Maydon Wharf, six berths – 1 to 4 and 13 to 14 – are being rebuilt and deepened. Once completed, the berths will have a draught of 14.5 m, enabling them to handle vessels with draughts up to 13 m, making these berths the deepest in the Port of Durban. However, the Maydon Wharf access channel will still need to be deepened to allow for deeper-draught vessels to sail in fully laden. The project to rebuild and repair all six berths at Maydon Wharf is expected to be completed by 2018.

Transnet is further proposing the phased development of the so-called Durban Dig-Out Port (DDOP) on the old Durban International Airport (DIA) site, among other projects.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Value
The project forms part of Transnet’s larger R340-billion to R380-billion ten-year rolling market demand strategy (MDS).

Funding for the new dig-out port at the DIA has not been included in the strategy.

Duration
Ongoing.

Latest Developments
Consulting engineering solutions provider Bosch Projects has completed the upgrade of two shiploaders at the Durban harbour.

The shiploaders needed to be refurbished in line with Transnet’s upgrade of berths at Maydon Wharf, in Durban.

Each overhauled shiploader has a vertical lift of 1.32 m and a horizontal seaward shift of 4 m. Restoration has involved the partial removal of existing legs of the structure and installation of new bogies and an advanced 33 t substructure, with a 14 m wheel base between the landside and seaside legs. A rear 4 m extension allows for an extended feed conveyor and cable reeling drum.

The project also involved the replacement of two 9 t ballast boxes, as well as new 21.4 t ballast boxes, to ensure the stability of the machines under all load and wind conditions. A new motor control centre (MCC) panel has been linked to the existing MCC panel, a new support platform has been installed and the original timber flooring has been replaced with a grating and chequer plate structure.

Restoration also involved on- and off-site conveyor belt splicing, surface preparation and painting of selected existing steelwork, as well as the replacement of the cladding where necessary.

These shiploaders were moved by rigging, and machine moving services provider Lovemore Mechanical Projects during the berth upgrade to allow Transnet access for construction. The shiploaders’ 7 t chutes and 16 t booms were rigged down using a floating crane, for offloading at the staging area where they were reconditioned. The 112 t main structures, each 20 m high, were moved using a custom-made, push-and-pull system, with the set-up of temporary railway lines.

Once the shipbuilders were back in place, four 50 t capacity hydraulic jacks, with a cumulative capacity of 200 t, were used to lift them to install temporary supports to allow for the building of the new substructure. Hydraulic jacks were used again to remove the supports and install the bogies.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Protekon Consulting & Construction; CPS; IMPSA-Jikelele joint venture (JV); Kalmar African National Engineering JV; Hydroflow and Liebherr Cranes (Germany); Grinaker-LTA, Interbeton and Bafokeng Bateman Services (Bafokeng Civil Works and Bateman Materials Handling) JV; DSE and Dorbyl (subcontractors steelwork fabrication); La Spezia Container Terminal, Italy (three Liebherr cranes); Kalmar (straddle carriers); DSE (manufacture of structural components, and the erection and installation of mechanical and electrical work); Protekon (planning and designing the infrastructure for the installation of the Liebherr cranes at the south terminal); Protekon Construction (two new berths for Island View terminal); Dura Piling (piling contract – Island View); Basil Read (main contractor – Pier 1, civil and paving works – DCT); Chryso South Africa (concrete products – hard standing area, Pier 1); Lafarge Readymix (design and supply of concrete – hard standing area, Pier 1); Natal Portland Cement, or NPC (cement – Pier 1); Kalmar Industries (30 straddle carriers); TBA (review, analysis and simulation of DCT’s container-handling operations); Sarens Group (crawler crane); the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (loan finance); Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery Company (rail-mounted gantry cranes); Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co, or ZPMC (design, manufacture, delivery and commissioning of cranes); Dredging International and Group Five (port-widening project); C3 Shared Services (codesign of security solution at Pier 1); Mott MacDonald, in JV with Hatch and Goba (widening of Durban harbour entrance and construction of Pier 1 container terminal); Blue IQ (financial coordinator for proposed container terminal at the old DIA site); Liebherr (design, fabrication, delivery, erection, testing and commissioning of the cranes); Stefanutti Stocks AXSYS JV (Mayden Wharf – main contractor), Aveng Grinaker-LTA (electrical installation of nine harbour tugs); Lovemore Mechanical (rigging and machine moving services) and Bosch Projects (shiploaders upgrade).

On Budget and on Time?
The project is on schedule and within budget.

Contact Details for Project Information
TNPA acting corporate affairs manager Nompumelelo Kunene, tel +27 31 361 8973 or email nompumelelo.kunene2@transnet.net.