Harbour entrance developments help redefine Durban Bay

It is probably true to say that never before has quite so much effort and money gone into the development of an existing port in this country as is currently under way at Durban. Although they are listed as separate projects, most of the recent developments have been taking place at the same time or close behind each other and should be seen in their entirety. The mammoth task of widening and deepening the harbour entrance is possibly the most noteworthy of the projects and certainly the most visible, as it has had a major effect on public activity in the harbour area. Interestingly it has also been the project receiving probably the least concern from environmental interests and other potential objectors. The work has been able to progress without any noticeable delays, although the pirates of Somali have done their bit by hijacking a special side stone dumping vessel, the Pompei, while it was en route to Durban to work on the breakwaters. The Pompei was seized and remains in pirate hands as this article is being prepared. Nevertheless it appears the channel project will be completed on schedule by early 2010 and, as if to confirm this, the first ship to make official use of the now widened channel did so on Monday, June 15, 2009. In summary the work has entailed removing the old north pier, erected from the 1850s onwards, and reconstructing a new north breakwater some hundred metres northward. This involved removing buildings and other infrastructure at the tip of the Point which included some famous watering holes offering the finest close-up views of shipping anywhere on the South African coast. Also removed was the city’s sand pumping station, which has been in existence since the early 1980s to control the loss of beach sand along Durban’s famous Golden Mile – a direct result of the port entrance breakwaters interrupting the littoral drift. The scheme involved transferring sand by Transnet dredger from the Cave Rock bight outside the north breakwater and transferring it into a pumping station on the old north breakwater from where sand was pumped along the beaches. With the north breakwater having to be rebuilt northwards, this scheme had to be redesigned as part of the overall project. Reconstruction of tunnel Yet another project involving cooperation between Transnet and the eThekwini Municipality was the removal and reconstruction of a tunnel beneath the entrance channel to carry service equipment, pipes and cables to the Bluff. This was carried out and completed early in the project. During all this construction the entrance channel remained in regular service, with the minimum of interruption. The project is costing an estimated R4 billion – that’s the amount that was raised with the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation in March 2009 to pay for the project. One of the highlights marking the completion of the new channel, even in an unofficial capacity, will undoubtedly be the arrival in Durban in March of the giant luxury cruise ship Queen Mary 2. With a length of 345 metres and a beam of over 41m, the huge ship will have no more problems sailing majestically into port than did her predecessor QE2. It is equally exciting for the port because it means that larger new generation container ships can now enter Durban harbour with every safety, along with the larger bulkers and tankers. The early engineers who battled to build the first breakwaters would be impressed.