Maydon Wharf bulk terminal on the long-term planning boards

Among t he longer-term projects at the Port of Durban is the TNPA plan to upgrade and enlarge the Maydon Wharf bulk terminal area where the private sector leases space for terminals, handling everything from bulk sugar, woodchips and timber products, to fruit and veggie perishable products. The project’s consultants, who are trying to find the best option for replacing the quays’ present steel-sheet pile wall, are still currently discussing the plans. However, according to port engineer David McGillewie, the most likely candidate appears to be a similar type of pile wall structure. “But what we finally intend to do – and it will be a 10-year development – is to move out the quay wall by no more than two-metres, to avoid invading the space presently occupied by the access channel, and giving a quayside water depth of 14.5-m.” Whether the huge, and extremely costly, plan to dredge out the Bayhead area to extend the harbour area westward, will actually take place is anyone's guess. Although such a development is well within the capabilities of port engineers, the problem here is that the land to be removed, all owned by Transnet Freight Rail (formerly Spoornet), is also leased by a number of private sector operators – involved in shipbuilding, operating the dry-dock and associated industries. They are not too enamoured of the scheme. “But,” said McGillewie, “it’s still in the feasibility stage.” They were equally silent about the other grand plan – to digout the present airport site and create another harbour area south of the present port structure. It’s possible, they said – claiming that almost anything is feasible for port engineers to do – but costs would be enormous, and the plan seems to have currently taken a bit of a back-burner position in TNPA thinking. Whatever, the port is definitely on the move in the right directions, and the signs are all there for the public to see.