Berth 12 to be deepened to 14.5m

Work, budgeted at R230 m is currently being undertaken on berth 12 at the Port of Durban, using the sheet-pile method of constructing the new quay wall, and deepening it from its current 8 m to 14.5 m – allowing it for the first time to take larger vessels with a draft up to 13 m. This will be finished in September. A report in the local Mercury newspaper also indicates that, once berth 12 is completed, the corner area of Maydon Wharf – comprising berths 10, 11 and 12 – will be capable of handling the increasing number of container ships being diverted to the terminal area from DCT Pier 2. This is currently overcrowded because of rails being laid to take the seven new tandem ship-to-shore (STS) cranes being installed at berths 203-205, and their eventual deepening and strengthening. This will cause an overflow of some 400 000 TEUs a year, and Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) hopes to divert some of them to Maydon Wharf and the Point in Durban, with plans to also request some ships to redeploy to Port Elizabeth/Ngqura for offloading/loading.