Prefeasibility work that will deliver the final spatial design and plan for Durban’s R100-billion-plus dig-out port began this week; however, this is just the start of an extremely “rigorous” process before the first phase is delivered in early 2020, Durban dig-out port programme director Marc Descoins said.

Speaking at the Transport Forum, in Durban, on Thursday, he stated that a great deal of front-end research had been done. “The fatal flaws analysis yielded many risks but no show-stoppers,” he said, adding that, while there may be some alterations to layouts and phases, the overall concept was unlikely to change.

The 800 ha site was located about 11 km from the existing Durban port. “That poses a lot of questions about the logistics around eThekwini. How do we service this port?

The new port and the existing port need to coexist, not just in terms of servicing industry, but also in terms of facilitating developments within the existing harbour that need to take place.”

Descoins pointed out that if State-owned Transnet went ahead with proposed port improvements at the existing facility, capacity would be taken offline. Additional capacity through the dig-out port would be needed to compensate for that.

He said there were plans to ramp up capacity in the existing Durban port from the 2.7-million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) handled last year to 4.8-million TEUs. The additional capacity would be added through the proposed Salisbury Island Infill.

However, although negotiations are under way with the Department of Public Works to lease land on which to build additional container-handling facilities, which would provide additional capacity of at least 1.4-million TEUs, plans to reinstate a full naval base in Durban could mean that this land is no longer available, increasing the need for the dig-out port.

Descoins stated that demand was the key driver for the dig-out port. He said Transnet envisaged a very substantial increase in freight volumes, from 2.7-million TEUs in 2012 to between 9-million and 12-million TEUs by 2040. In addition, he said major shipping lines were driving radical changes in the types and sizes of vessels that were likely to visit Durban.

According to Descoins, 70% of vessels currently on order are in excess of 10 000 TEUs in size. Durban routinely handles ships of 4 000 to 5 000 TEUs. “If we do not respond sharply, then we’re going to lose our relevance as a gateway into the Southern African region – and, believe me, there are many developments happening along the African coast, so we cannot rest on our laurels.” 

He said many of the ultralarge vessels were due for delivery shortly. “This doesn’t mean that these vessels are going to be calling in Durban. What it does mean is that a lot more 10 000-TEU-sized ships are going to be cascaded off the main routes onto the more secondary routes.

“Estimates are that, within the next ten years, we will be seeing vessels of an average size of 12 000 TEUs wanting to call in the Port of Durban and vessels from 18 000 TEUs upwards once in a while.”

Descoins expected this to have repercussions from an operational point of view. “Instead of unloading parcels of 2 000 to 3 000 TEUs, we are going to be looking at parcels of 5 000 TEUs and upwards. The peaks in operational performance will be much higher than they are now and this is why we have to look at the entire logistics chain.”

Meanwhile, he pointed out that Transnet faced a number of challenges with regard to the dig-out port.

Although Transnet had taken transfer of the bulk of the land from Airports Company South Africa (ACSA), in October, last year, 31 privately owned properties, including a large distribution facility owned by Pep Stores, as well as other warehouses, engineering works and trucking yards, needed to be bought. It was hoped that deals would be concluded by mid-2014, he said.

There are also environmental and social issues, including the removal of small-scale farmers, who have leased land from ACSA for decades. He said Transnet had started the engagement process around the dig-out port far earlier than it would have under conventional environmental-impact assessment procedures and had learnt a great deal about the issues with which it would have to deal.

Descoins said the layout of the dig-out port – and Phase 1 in particular – would be determined by the orientation of road and rail access and port concessioning. The actual construction phase would continue for anything from 20 to 30 years depending on developments within the global economy.

Because the Department of Transport favours privatising the Durban dig-out port, he noted, further research that would be concluded in October this year, was being carried out to determine the form this would take. Once this had been concluded, the port would “go to market”. He said there had already been a great deal of interest both domestically and internationally.

From a construction point of view, there were a number of concerns. Currently, 75% of South Africa’s crude oil is brought in through a single buoy mooring, which is too close to the entrance to the new port and which will need to be moved and commissioned before construction of the breakwater can start.

Further, during construction, 70-million cubic metres of soil would need to be dredged. While some could be used to level the site, the majority would need to be disposed of either inland or out to sea. The former would result in astronomical costs, while environmental authorisation for the latter would be difficult to obtain.

“We have to look at contamination issues. Hydrocarbons have been pumped around this area for decades and we know there have been some leaks,” Descoins added.