Experts and industry players have urged Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) to move swiftly ahead with the long-standing plan to deepen berths at the Port of Durban.
Transnet’s managing executive for the eastern region, Moshe Motlohi, recently spoke about the berth deepening project which is aimed at allowing the port to accommodate larger vessels.
He said it was hoped that the project would be completed by 2030.
Motlohi said: “We want to start it as soon as possible as we want the port to be deeper. We want to deepen the berth to about 16 metres as that will allow us to accommodate vessels that are 14 metres or more. This deepening should have been done in 2008.
We want to assure everyone that this project won’t affect operations as we will always have two berths available to accommodate vessels while one is being deepened.”
Gavin Kelly, CEO of the Road Freight Association (RFA), said that as with all modes of transport the more containers (or passengers on cruise ships) that could be loaded, the more revenue for the shipping company.
However, he said the port efficiency would be an important factor if larger vessels called on Durban.
“Larger ships mean more containers into a port that has already proven it cannot handle the current volumes. Five years (for the project) sounds rather long. The RFA welcomes any move by Transnet to make our ports more efficient, more enticing and operationally a pleasure to visit.
Whether the deepening can be done quickly, efficiently and without the current financial questions that seem to go hand-in-hand with these sorts of infrastructure projects, remains to be seen.”
Malcolm Hartwell, Norton Rose Fulbright director and master mariner, said that the past 10 years had seen a massive increase in the size of container vessels with the largest now able to carry up to 26 000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).
“Durban can currently handle ships up to 12.2m in depth. Ngqura can accommodate ships up to a draft of 16.5m. Durban has a geographical advantage over Ngqura in being closer to Sub-Saharan Africa, but will continue to suffer from competition from Ngqura for servicing these large ships until the berths in Durban are deepened.”
Hartwell added that it was well known that TNPA had simply not functioned competitively on the world stage in the past few years.
“Recent positive developments at TNPA indicate however that the government has finally realised that hub ports need to be efficient and expanded considerably. Although this could have been attended to years ago when everybody knew of the growth in ship sizes. Whether or not this can be achieved within five years will depend on TNPA’s commitment to the project.”
Dr Sanele Gumede, an economics lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, said the project should have happened a long time ago.
“We are lagging behind and that is why ports in Mozambique and Kenya have moved ahead of us.
“We need to move from the planning phase to the implementation phase. Only if they start the project will we be able to see if it can be completed in five years.”
The Mercury