Name and Location
Durban port upgrade and expansion project, 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 Durban Container Terminal (DCT) is the biggest and busiest in the southern hemisphere and currently handles 64% of the country’s seaborne container traffic.

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

The main projects include the expansion of the DCT Pier 1, which will increase the capacity of the terminal from 700 000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) to 820 000 TEUs by 2013 and eventually to 1.2-million TEUs by 2016/17.

In addition, the North quay at DCT Pier 2 will be extended to increase the capacity from 2.1-million TEUs in 2011/12 to 2.5-million TEUs by 2013/14 and to 3.3-million TEUs by 2017/18.

Container 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.

Transnet is further proposing the phased development of a new dig-out port on the old Durban International Airport (DIA) site.

Value
The project forms part of an initial five-year R110.5-billion capital expenditure programme until 2015/16 and the group’s larger R300-billion seven-year Market Demand Strategy (MDS) until 2018/19.

However, funding for the new port at the DIA is not included in the strategy.

Transnet has indicated that it is in the final stages of appointing a transaction adviser and is considering various funding options and models for private-sector participation in the project.

Duration
Ongoing.

Latest Developments
Prefeasibility work that will deliver the final spatial design and plan for Durban’s R100-billion-plus dig-out port has begun.

This is just the start of an extremely “rigorous” process before the first phase is delivered in early 2020.

Speaking at the Transport Forum, in Durban, earlier this month Durban dig-out port programme director Marc Descoins 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 might be some alterations to layouts and phases, the overall concept was unlikely to change.

The 800 ha site is located about 11 km from the existing Durban 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,” he said.

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

He added that there were plans to ramp up capacity at the existing Durban port from the 2.7-million 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 the land on which to build additional container-handling facilities, which will 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.

Transnet envisages a very substantial increase in freight volumes, from 2.7-million TEUs in 2012 to between 9-million TEUs and 12-million TEUs by 2040. In addition, major shipping lines are driving radical changes in the types and sizes of vessels that are likely to dock at Durban.

According to Descoins, 70% of vessels currently on order were larger than 10 000 TEUs in size, with many of the ultralarge vessels 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,” said Descoins.

Estimates are that, within the next ten years, the Port of Durban will accommodate vessels of an average size of 12 000 TEUs and possibly18 000 TEUs on occassion.

This is expected 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,” he says.

Meanwhile, Transnet faces several challenges with regard to the dig-out port.

Although Transnet took 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 brand retailer Pep, other warehouses, engineering works and trucking yards, still need to be bought. It is hoped that deals will be concluded by mid-2014.

There are also environmental and social issues, including the removal of small-scale farmers, who have leased land from ACSA for decades.

Transnet has started the engagement process on the dig-out port far earlier than it would have under conventional environmental-impact assessment procedures and has learnt a great deal about the issues it will face.

Descoins says the layout of the dig-out port, particularly Phase 1, will be determined by the orientation of road and rail access and port concessioning. The actual construction phase will continue from 20 to 30 years, depending on developments in the global economy.

As the Department of Transport favours privatising the Durban dig-out port, Descoins noted, further research that would be concluded in October, was being conducted to determine the form this would take. Once this has been concluded, the port will “go to market”. There has already been a great deal of interest domestically and internationally.

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

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

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Protekon Consulting & Construction; CPS; IMPSA-Jikelele joint venture (JV); Kalmar African National Engineering (ANE) 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 – 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 (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); and Liebherr (design, fabrication, delivery, erection, testing and commissioning of the cranes).

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

Contact Details for Project Information
ANE Durban head office, tel +27 31 579 3301, fax +27 31 579 3323 or email aned@mweb.co.za.
Basil Read, tel +27 11 418 6375 or fax +27 11 418 6334.
Bateman, tel +27 11 899 9111 or email pgm@batemanbv.com.
Chryso South Africa, tel +27 11 395 9700 or fax +27 11 397 6644.
Dorbyl, tel +27 41 408 6009, fax +27 41 408 6035 or email dorbyl@guestroauto.com.
Dredging International, tel +32 3 250 52 11, fax +32 3 250 56 50 or email dredging@dredging.com.
DSE, tel +27 11 871 4111, fax +27 11 871 4141.
Grinaker-LTA, tel +27 11 578 6000, fax +27 11 578 6161 or email enquiry@grinaker-lta.co.za.
Group Five, tel +27 11 806 0111, fax +27 11 803 5520 or email info@g5.co.za.
Kalmar Industries, tel +27 31 327 1800 or fax +27 31 327 1811.
Lafarge Readymix, tel +27 31 275 7400.
NPC, tel +27 31 450 4411 or fax +27 31 451 9010.
Sarens Group, Hendrik Sarens, tel +32 52 319 397 or
email hendrik.sarens@sarens.com.
Transnet DCT, Siya Mhlakula, tel +27 31 361 6964 or email siya.mhlakula@transnet.net.
Transnet Durban car terminal, Beverley Masson, tel +27 31 361 8702 or
email beverley.masson@transnet.net.
Transnet spokesperson Mboniso Sigonyela, tel +27 11 308 2384/2458,
fax +27 11 308 2465, cell +27 83 463 7701 or email mboniso.sigonyela@transnet.net.
Transnet Pier 1 container terminal, Michelle Philips, tel +27 31 361 6820 or
email michelle.philips@transnet.net.
TNPA Port of Durban port manager Ricky Bhikraj, tel +27 31 361 8821 or
email ricky.bhikraj@transnet.net; or public affairs department, tel +27 31 361 8527.
TPT Durban head office, tel +27 31 308 8333 or fax +27 31 308 8302; or
chief communication officer Lunga Ngcobo, tel +27 31 308 8323, cell +27 083 288 9653 or email lunga.ngcobo@transet.net.
ZPMC, tel + 86 21 58396666, fax +86 21 58399555 or email mail@zpmc.com.