Durban shippers brace for port capacity squeeze

The Durban container
terminal (DCT) is to lose
one berth soon after the
end of this month, as
new rail lines are laid to
accommodate the new shipto-
shore cranes that are due
to be installed, according
to Kevin Martin, chairman
of the Durban Harbour
Carriers’ Association
(DHCA).
And that is liable to
be a serious blow to the
DCT’s ship handling
schedule, according to a line
executive.
“One berth does make
a big difference,” he told
FTW. “And adding to the
problem is that it is not
a short-term closure, but
long-term, as the crane
installation will be followed
by berth deepening.”
Transnet Port Terminals
(TPT) does have
contingency plans, but these
are not too acceptable to the
lines, added our shipping
line contact.
“One plan is to move
own-gear container ships
to the Point,” he said.
“But this will slow down
offloading/loading of the
vessels, and will cost us
the inconvenience of more
time in port. They are also
talking about diverting
vessels to the Port of
Ngqura. But it’s not easy
to change ships’ schedules
like this, never mind the
lengthy and costly landside
movement of boxes to and
from the port.”
Martin has been led to
understand that setting the
rails back by 10 metres
from the old lines is because
the new cranes straddle 24
containers across, but the
10-m difference cuts them
back to 18.
“The engineers are
perturbed about the strength
of the quay to work 24
across,” he told FTW. “But,
once the berth is deepened
and strengthened, then
they’ll move them back out
to full reach.”
After the berth deepening,
the Port of Durban will be in
a position to accommodate
the so-called new generation
of large container vessels,
and Transnet indicated that
this would mean container
vessels with a capacity of
up to 9 200 TEUs would be
able to call.