Dig-out port definitely on – possibly by 2025

There is no rethink at Transnet about the need for the Durban dig-out port (DDOP) – apart from a possibly variable construction start-off date dependent on an annual review of the local and global gross domestic products (GDPs) and cargo volumes. The maxim guiding the parastatal transport operation is simple. “No matter what we do, at the existing Durban port we will get a maximum capacity of 4.8 million TEUs.” In 2014 a total of 2.664m TEUs passed through the port, and the latest estimates are that this capacity level will be breached in 10 years’ time. So the driver for the requirement of the DDOP remains the same. Demand will exceed capacity in the existing Port of Durban in ± 2025, according to Mark Gregg-MacDonald, Transnet’s group executive for planning and sustainability. Talking to FTW at Transnet’s quarterly briefing session, he added that a “significant demand upside exists”. This he highlighted with the vast container volumes moving between the Far East, Europe and South America And, Gregg-MacDonald insisted, it was more cost effective to sail modern, large container vessels around the Cape than through the Suez Canal. He also suggested that the DDOP was ideally positioned to be a transhipment hub for very large container ships. “This,” he said, “is demand over and above the currently predicted SA gateway traffic demand. And every ship calling means additional revenue, economic growth and job creation.” Detailing what he termed “the status quo”, Gregg- MacDonald pointed out that mega-projects like the DDOP were highly complex and characterised by significant up-front planning. “The final designs are not yet completed as we are currently in the planning (pre-feasibility study) phase,” he said. “And this involves extensive data collection, simulation and analysis.” While he confirmed that the construction commencement date was re-assessed annually, he also pointed out that, under the current demand requirement – given the present and forecast traffic volumes and the GDP status – the estimated date for completion was 2025. Gregg-MacDonald also observed the significant work that had been done over the last three years. Under the headline of “benchmarking” he indicated that 11 DDOP-comparable ports had been investigated – including Doha (Qatar), Jebel Ali (UAE), Pusan (Korea), Euromax (Rotterdam), APMT Tangier (Morocco), and Port Botany (Australia). “Also,” he said, “the required road and rail connection locations have been identified and interfaces with the city, Sanral and the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) established. “At full build out, the port is likely to comprise: 16 container berths with capacity for ± 9.7 million TEUs per annum, and two roll-on, roll-off (ro-ro) berths with capacity for ±500 000 car equivalent units (CEUs).”