THE Durban car terminal is busy expanding into what was formerly the port’s multi-purpose terminal, with plans to be able to meet an expected movement of 703 956 vehicle units a year by 2020 – 481 395 units imported and 222 561 exported. This compares with the 388 894 units handled in the 2007/08 financial year – 258 881 imported, 122 590 exported and 7 423 transhipped. “We are well on track with our capacity utilisation programme,” said Graham Braby, Transnet chief of operations for the automotive and bulk sectors. The car terminal currently has 13 200 parking bays (8 700 open and 4 500 undercover), and Braby told FTW, expects to have 14 000 by year-end. This, according to Bev Masson, automotive channel manager, is a vast improvement on the original terminal, which, when it opened in 1996, had two pre-fab offices and 1 000 parking bays. “When we moved to the new terminal in 1998,” she told FTW, “we had 3 500 open bays. “In 2003/04 we opened the multi-storey parking garage, and added 3 000 undercover bays.” Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) has committed about R460-million to the latest expansion plans for the rail and terminal facility, and it is due for completion in the first half of next year.
