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TNPA continues R17bn infrastructure spend at Durban port

TNPA continues R17bn infrastructure spend at Durban port

Photo by Duane Daws

27th February 2015

By: Shirley le Guern

Creamer Media Correspondent

  

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The Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) was committed to spending R17-billion on infrastructure upgrades at the Port of Durban by 2023.

In a briefing on current projects that had begun or were about to get under way at the port, Port of Durban manager Moshe Motlohi said long-term plans were extensive and included the development of a fifth berth at Bayhead, as well as the introduction of new services, which he would not elaborate on.

He said progress was being made on the nine mega capital expenditure projects that were being implemented. Construction of the sand pumpstation at Berth A Island View was almost complete. This was imperative to keep the port channel clear of sand and to ensure that the deepened port channel into the port was not lost.

Also at Island View, the deepening of berth two from a draught of 11.7 m to 14.5 m was in progress. Berth five and six at Island View would also be deepened to accommodate larger vessels.

Motlohi confirmed that two projects were under way at the strategic multipurpose facility at Maydon Wharf. He said that, although the easiest option would have been to simply close off the area during construction, this was a highly sensitive area and the economy could not cope with its closure from a food security point of view. Instead, work on the berths would be phased with work on berths one to four and 12 to 14 already under way.  

“Vessels have overtaken us,” he declared, explaining that berth draughts would be deepened to 16.5 m and quay walls strengthened to accommodate fully laden larger container vessels.

A slightly more controversial plan to provide between 940 m and 1.2 km of extra space to accommodate fully laden vessels was expected to start by mid-2016 with completion expected by December 2020.

TNPA had received two objections to its environmental-impact assessment (EIA) for the project from the South Durban Environmental Alliance and Earthlife Africa, which needed to be addressed. However, he said he hoped this would not derail the process and that people would realise the strategic importance of this project.

Bigger cranes were needed to unload these larger ships and the necessary support and deeper berths were needed to accommodate these.

Turning to the construction of the proposed container terminal at Salisbury Island, Motlohi outlined that work on Pier 1 Phase 2, which involved the reclamation of 21 ha of land and the deepening of berths to the required 16.5 m, was at feasibility stage.

Once the design had been completed, the EIA process would begin, with construction expected to begin before 2021. This would provide two extra berths.

He said that it followed that, if throughput was increased, infrastructure serving the port would also need to be upgraded. He noted that Bayhead road would have to be upgraded from a two-lane to a three-lane road on either side, while Langeberge road would be widened from one to two lanes. In addition, new gates to the port would have to be built on both thoroughfares. In all, it was a holistic package.

Motlohi stated that it was evident that the number of cruise liners calling on the Port of Durban was steadily increasing. The number of passengers last year was 178 373 and had been growing steadily for some time. The current operational area was experiencing congestion and was not world-class. “We will be moving this to a new site (alongside the Point Waterfront) where a container terminal will dovetail with the entertainment precinct. Passengers will then be able to access uShaka Marine World and the beachfront. We want this to sell Durban,” he said.

Currently, tenders had been received and were being adjudicated, he confirmed.

He added that TNPA had also begun attending to problems at Durban’s dry dock where “things are not functioning the way they should be”. He said TNPA had realised that good technical capabilities were needed and had appointed nine engineers and a naval architect to plug this gap.

These upgrades, he noted, were expected to have a major impact on the port. It was expected that 53 000 direct employment opportunities would be created, as well as 50 000 jobs within port-dependent sectors. The upgrade of Pier 1 Phase 2 alone would create 19 000 jobs during the construction phase. 

Presenting on progress at Durban’s proposed dig-out port, project head Mark Desoins responded to mounting criticism that it was not needed, by stating categorically that TNPA needed to re-enforce the fact that South Africa needed an additional facility and that, after studying ten possible locations, had found that the old airport site remained the most suitable and cost effective.

Despite having invested upwards of R150-million in pre-project studies, he said TNPA was yet to find a single fatal flaw in the project. “It’s not a nice-to-have but a have-to-have,” he stated.

He predicted that the dig-out port would be needed by 2025 when the current port ran out of container capacity. Phase 1 of the dig-out port would add a further 600 000 twenty-foot equivalent units a year to Durban’s container capacity but was scalable upwards.

He said current projections, which were based on gross domestic product growth, had factored in economic challenges that would delay the project such as load shedding. However, it had not factored in possible radical increases in transshipment cargoes, as international shippers were now beginning to avoid using the Suez Canal.

He said the first phase of the new port could be operation by 2026. “We can’t wait until 2024 to decide [if we need it]. Then we will be out of capacity for another ten years,” he warned.

He indicated that the next steps that needed to be taken included the finalisation of funding for the project, further land acquisition and the choice of a terminal operator. He said there had already been considerable interest from international port operators.

Edited by Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

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