Ngqura expansion back on track

With the 74-metre motor hopper dredger Jin Hang Bo having been refloated in the port of Ngqura, Transnet says it is back on track to have the dredging of the remaining two container quays in the port completed by June. A Transnet National Ports Authority spokesperson told FTW that a new dredger would arrive in March, together with additional barges to take the sand out to sea where it is dumped. There will then be a total of five barges working on the project. Transnet has also responded to calls by the shipping lines to increase capacity in the port of Ngqura by adding two Liebherr Post Panamax gantries to the fleet of six Megamax cranes that have been working in the port since it opened in June 2009. The R150-million Liebherr cranes are due to be operational by April. FTW understands that they were originally bound for Cape Town, but were reallocated after representations by shipping lines to the Minister and Brian Molefe. Industry talk is that Transnet Port Terminals is wary about continuing to invest in Ngqura as it only has a three-year operating licence. There is no clarity as to what would happen to the top infrastructure if another operator were to be appointed. Shipping sources, who preferred not to be identified, welcomed the additional gantries, but said that Transnet needed to ensure that it had sufficient staff – only five of the six existing cranes work at any one time due to a lack of operators. There is also a need for supporting equipment, such as rubber-tyred gantries. Ngqura Container Terminal chief engineer Tony Lottering is heading up the team of local and international engineers assembling the new units. Two additional gangs consisting of 78 employees are currently undergoing training on the new cranes, according to Siya Mhlaluka, Terminal Executive Manager, Eastern Cape Terminals. He says the Liebherr cranes have a twin reach capability of over 19 containers. This makes them slightly smaller than the 110m-high Megamax ship to shore (STS) cranes, which are able to service vessels with up to 22 containers stacked across their width. The new gantries were discharged as completely knocked down units by the HHL Hamburg. More gantries will, however, be needed when all four berths in the first phase of the Ngqura container terminal come into operation later this year. According to Mhlaluka, the new cranes will raise productivity levels in the port of Ngqura, which recorded a high of 34 crane moves per hour (GCH) in December 2011.