Project director spells out time lines for new dig-out port

The first shovelful of the new dig-out port on the site of the old Durban International Airport will be lifted in 2016, and the first ships are due to dock at the port’s container terminal berths in 2020, according to Marc Descoins, Transnet’s project director planning for the new port. However, although each phase of the project is datelined, these must be viewed as provisional dates, he told FTW in an exclusive interview. “We are still in the concept phase of the port development,” he added, “so a lot of things can still change.” But Descoins released to FTW the dates for which the project planners are aiming. The construction of Phase 1 – essentially the dig-out and four container berths, and a terminal capacity of 2.4 million TEU containers – is due to start construction in 2016, and be ready to go in early 2020. There are then three other dedicated phases, each of 2.4m-TEU container capacity. Phase 2 is due for 2026; Phase 3 in 2031; and Phase 4 in 2036. This will finally render a total container capacity at the new port of 9.6 m TEUs. “It’s important to remember that there are also automotive and liquid bulk facilities planned,” Descoins said. “These are datelined for after Phase 4 of the terminal development. “But this is under review – with the question of whether we need to bring any forward. The current facilities are predicted to be capable of meeting expected growth until 2036. But we may take auto over before that date. However, that would need to be agreed with the motor industry.” The current single buoy mooring (SBM) – where oil tankers are berthed for unloading their crude oil cargoes to feed the needs of the SA refineries – will need to be moved, as it lies in the entrance channel to the new port. “The only way to move it is further south down the KwaZulu Natal coastline,” said Descoins. “Engineers are currently studying that.” He also warned that the essential environmental issue might very well delay the project. “It’s a long and rather laborious process,” he said. “And you can add to that the port promulgation, which essentially asks if the minister of transport thinks that the project is feasible and desirable.” But Descoins is confident that this will receive a positive response, and was adamant that the need for the port should not be seen as an issue of luxury. “It’s a matter of when, not if,” he told FTW. “And it’s also being pushed by the presidency itself.” Running alongside the new dig-out port project is the development of the Gauteng- Durban link, with Descoins a committed supporter of the concept of a dedicated truck highway. Indeed, he revealed that the Ethekwini Municipality already had the plans on the drawing board for such a highway leading out of the city of Durban, and designed to precede the completion of the first phase of the dig-out port. “This,” he told FTW, “is conceived to link up the old port to the Gauteng highway, and then to link up with the dig-out port.