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.