New Walvis Bay floating dock arrives

WALVIS BAY’S second floating dock arrived at the Namibian port last week after a voyage lasting 40 days from the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda. The dock, capable of lifting ships of 8 500 tonnes and almost identical to another dock at Walvis Bay as well as one at the Elgin Brown & Hamer yard in Durban, was acquired second hand after Klaipeda port opted to ‘go tourist’ rather than continue as an industrial commercial port. Willem Kruk, director of Elgin Brown & Hamer which will operate the new dock as a joint venture alongside Namport, told FTW that bringing a second dock to Walvis Bay indicated the growth in ship repair on the west coast, which has escalated since his company bought the first dock in 2006. “We’ve received the utmost co-operation from Namport and Walvis Bay is now a viable alternative to Cape Town or even Durban. Our first dock at Walvis Bay has had 100% occupancy ever since it went into service, making the decision to acquire a second dock an easy one.” He said that Transnet had originally been approached to place a floating dock in Cape Town. “After five years of waiting with no response we gave up and approached Namport, who proved to be most encouraging and helpful. Nothing was too much trouble and now here we have a second dock about to go into service.”