Name and Location
Port of Ngqura and container terminal development, Eastern Cape, South Africa.

Client
Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) and Transnet Port Terminals (TPT), divisions of State-owned company Transnet.

Project Description
The Port of Ngqura, located at the mouth of the Coega river in Algoa Bay, about 20 km north-east of Port Elizabeth, is undergoing development to  function as a container and bulk cargo handling facility. Once complete, the container terminal will have a two-million twenty-foot-equivalent-unit (TEU) capacity.

The project entails the provision and construction of basic port infrastructure, consisting of the breakwater construction; the dredging of the basin and channels; a sand bypass system; seven berths, comprising a four-berth container terminal, a two-berth multipurpose terminal and a one-berth liquid-bulk terminal, as well as back-up areas; initial landside infrastructure; pilot boat and tugs; and the upgrade of the rail link from Ngqura to Gauteng.

The new 60 000 ha terminal includes a 16 m to 18 m draft alongside the berths, enabling it to accommodate new generation vessels of 8 000 to 9 000 TEUs.

Phase 1 of the project created capacity of up to 800 000 TEUs a year, which became available from the third quarter of 2009. The scope of the work included extending the quay wall to 1 300 m, equipping the first 720 m with landside equipment and upgrading of the corridor rail link from Ngqura to Gauteng.

The Ngqura–Gauteng rail corridor is served by a rail terminal comprising dedicated infrastructure and rolling stock, a marshalling yard, a mainline connection and upgrades to the hinterland network, promising efficient rail turnaround of under six hours. The rail infrastructure also includes two rail-mounted gantry cranes that span four railway tracks, with a wheel span of 22.5 m. The Ngqura rail operations started in October 2009.

Phase 2 will include equipment for all the berths to increase capacity to two-million TEUs. Planning of the Port of Ngqura has been integrated with the planning of the adjacent Coega industrial development zone for efficiency and increased economic benefit to businesses in this location.

Value
Transnet has invested more than R10-billion to develop the state-of-the-art port and associated infrastructure.

Duration
The entire project is expected to be completed by the end of 2013.

Latest Developments
The TNPA has awarded global engineering group Cavotec a R140-million tender for automated mooring units at the Port of Ngqura’s container terminal.

Cavotec will design, manufacture and install 26 MoorMaster 200C units for the four container berths at the port. The project will be undertaken in two phases, with Phase 1 involving the installation and trials at D100 and Phase 2 the installation at the other three container berths. The units will moor container ships from 1 500 TEUs up to 13 000 TEUs and 366 m in length.

The Port of Ngqura experiences significant long wave effects and high winds, especially during winter, causing excessive movement in the ships along the quay wall, interfering with crane operations. As a result, there is a lot of downtime in cargo operations affecting the terminal’s efficiency targets.

The automated mooring units are expected to dampen vessel motion by as much as 75%. This reduces ship movement and enables faster mooring or release of vessels, which is expected to drive up the efficiency at the port.

The technology needs to be built to TNPA’s specifications. Therefore, the first of the units will arrive within the next 12 months and it is expected that, by 2015, the first terminal will be fully automated.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Ngqura Harbour Contractors, a joint venture (JV) between Hochtief Construction, Concor Holdings and Ngqura Empowerment Contractors (construction of the harbour); Siyaya Civils & Building Contractors and Pambo Civils Engineering Contractors & Consultants (contract for the control of sand erosion around the harbour); Jan de Nul (dredging of the harbour); African Explosives; Abacus; Ballenden & Rob; Barloworld; Caissons; Concor Roads; Concrete Finishing Equipment; Concor-Bridge; Deranco Blocks; Dura Piling; Earthcon; Ensutech; Fanilo Construction; Fabscan Man; Geomechanics; Ibhayi Manufacturing; Interconnect Systems; Johnsons Crane; Jones & Wagener; Mammoet; RMS-WRS JV; Sibakhulu; Sibobili; SRK Consulting; Steyns Drilling Trust; Vuka Steel; Yima Afrika; WK Construction; Metro Building Contractors; Masakheni Civils; Umanyano Electric; LR Builders, (PDP Construction); Shahied Flooring & Carpeting; Nobulali Builders; Siyakhula Renovators; Devs Construction; Grinaker-LTA; Sibakhulu; Grinaker-LTA Civils; Hotchief Concor JV; ALFDAV Construction; Concor Roads & Earthworks; Grinaker-LTA Buildings; Subtech; Pro-Khaya Construction; Fairmile Fencing; Liebherr; Kalmar; Goss & Balfe; Lennings DEC; Aberdare Cables; B&W; Alstom; Sectional Poles; B&W/Errol Greene JV; Grintek; Transtel ICT; Marine Data Solutions; Shaw Controls (main distribution boards, supply and installation of busbar trunking, and switch socket outlet kiosks); Busbar Installation (busbar trunking manufacture subcontract) and electrical subcontracting JV made up of Hatch, Mott McDonald and Goba (distribution boards installation).

The Connec JV comprises Concor Engineering and the CH Warman Pump Group.

Through this JV, Concor is responsible for the pipework, electrical installation, pumps, instrumentation and final commissioning. The CH Warman Pump Group has supplied four gravel pumps to be incorporated into the sand bypass scheme.

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (environmental-impact assessment for additional container berths and the administration craft basin).

On Budget and on Time?
The project is in progress.

Contact Details for Project Information
Goba, tel +27 21 914 3600, fax +27 21 914 3601 or email infocapetown@goba.co.za.
Hatch, tel +27 11 239 5300 or fax +27 11 239 5790.
Port of Ngqura, tel +27 41 507 1618.
Shaw Controls, tel +27 11 680 4534/62/63/64/79, fax +27 11 433 3569 or email enquiries@shaw.zest.co.za.
TPT communication manager, Lumka Khumalo, email Lumka.Khumalo@transnet.net.