Namibia has announced major plans to develop new berths and quay walls at the Port of Walvis Bay.
The port development will support the country’s growing energy industry.
Namibian Ports Authority (Namport) CEO Andrew Kanime told Bloomberg that private investment of $2.1 billion is required for the proposed port expansion.
“We are hoping to commence with the operation in the last quarter of next year which will take about three years at most,” said Kanime.
The project also includes a plan to build a port in the coastal town of Lüderitz, 250 nautical miles south of the Port of Walvis Bay, providing additional market access for the Northern Cape region of South Africa.
Kanime said Namport will provide land for the development and invite private companies to develop and operate the port.
This comes after Shell and Total Energies announced massive oil and gas discoveries in the Orange Basin, off the Atlantic coast south of Lüderitz.
The oil discovery is estimated to be the equivalent of about seven billion barrels of oil, which could position Namibia to become the fifth largest oil producer in Africa by 2030.
At the moment Namibia is a net fuel importer and will need to overhaul its energy supply chain, including ports, to fully exploit these oil and gas discoveries.
Namibia also recently approved a Feasibility and Implementation Agreement with Hyphen Hydrogen Energy to develop, build and operate the largest green hydrogen project in sub-Saharan Africa at a cost of cost $10 billion.
The plant will be located in the Namib Desert.
Namport signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Port of Rotterdam in 2021 in preparation for the hydrogen project to develop a supply chain plan to export the gas.
