New CT Port Park will speed turnaround

Ray Smuts LAND close to the quayside is expensive and the Port of Cape Town does not have too much by way of backup areas, so plans are afoot to develop a R15 million 'Port Park' on the perimeter. Derek Visser, the Mother City's port engineer, says this type of development is in line with global port trends and follows the 'just in time' philosophy where cargo is kept on the fringe of a port and speedily delivered straight to the ship. He likens a Port Park with the Cape's fruit cooling facilities at places like Grabouw where fruit is loaded onto a truck and delivered right to the quayside and onto the vessel. "This is much more affordable to the importer and exporter and makes it cheaper for them to use the port," says Visser. The site measuring 18,9ha was purchased from Eskom a few years ago - it once housed the old power station - and has been lying mostly dormant since. "Land around the quayside is probably the costliest and in Cape Town we don't have large backup areas behind our quays because of the way in which the port was built, so one needs a facility just away from the port. The beauty of this park is that it will not be hemmed in by any future city growth. The idea, says Visser, would be to divert Marine Drive, thereby linking directly onto the N1, to Culemborg (a Transnet asset) and with direct rail access to main lines. Capital approval is awaited and the money will be used for road infrastructure, services and security fencing before the site becomes available for warehousing and other forms of leasing. "National Ports Authority's mission is to turn ships around as quickly as possible and the Port Park will go a long way to ensuring this. It must come because it will support the Port of Cape Town."