CT port aims for 1.4m TEUs

There is an urgency to
increase terminal capacity at
the Port of Cape Town to 1.4
million TEUs, according to
port manager Sipho Nzuza.
He said with the container
terminal having been
upgraded to 900 000 TEU
capacity on the landside,
indications were that this
would not suffice and that it
would have to be upped to 1.4
million TEUs by 2020.
While these figures are
based on a 3% sustainable
growth rate, Nzuza said it was
becoming urgent to up the
port capacity.
Investment into container
terminal capacity in the first
three years of the Market
Demand Strategy has seen the
port increase the quay length,
introduce more berths, up the
TEUs to 900 000 and operate
more ship to shore cranes,
straddlers and reach stackers.
“But our forecast is that
we are going to have to invest
more and up the capacity of
the container terminal even
more.”
He said important issues
that needed to be considered
in this regard were an
adequate vessel turning circle
within Ben Schoeman dock
and the increase in vessel sizes.
“With vessels getting
larger we need to ensure that
there is enough room for
manoeuvring these vessels in
the dock.”
Nzuza told delegates at a
breakfast meeting in Cape
Town that TNPA would
complete a feasibility study
by no later than March next
year that would adequately
respond to the new demands
the container terminal was
facing.