Questions raised over deadline of dig-out port

The new dig-out port of Durban could be delayed by as long as three years if the department of transport (DoT) is wrong in its assumption that it can be promulgated under the conditions of the current National Ports Act (NPA). And there is some opposition within the freight market to the departmental thinking. FTW has heard that this assumption could be legally incorrect, and the opponents have suggested that a completely new act is actually required – akin to the one that was behind the promulgation of the deep-water port at Coega. This added act would need to deal with all the particulars of the new port – with funding, ownership, who will operate the various facilities at the port and the like, all included. The department’s belief is that the present NPA allows the minister to declare a new port. But the argument against this is that the declaration is wrong where a new port is being created from what is currently just a few thousand hectares of dry land. But the chairman of the Cape Chamber of Commerce’s Port Liaison Forum (PLF), Mike Walwyn, utterly rejected this contrary case. An amendment to the original NPA inserted in the new act of 2005 gives the minister of transport the right to declare a port. Effectively, this amended NPA allows him to put a law or decree into effect by official proclamation. No separate act is needed. But there is another less theoretical hitch to the proposed start of operations at the new port, just four years off in 2018. What could possibly delay the opening of the new port is Transnet’s demand that Durban’s single buoy mooring (SBM) – which obstructs the proposed entry channel to the new port in its present position – be relocated before the end of 2016. This relocation is urgent, according to Noel Cronje, Transnet’s executive manager for planning support. If the SBM is not moved, he told FTW last November, the proposed dig-out port cannot be built within the project’s overall timeline. But the end of 2016 deadline was “a bit tight”, Rodney Youldon, commercial manager of the joint Shell/BP oil refinery, Sapref, told FTW at the same time. It’s not a matter of simply towing it off to a new location, he said, even though Sapref is running in high gear on the project. A new SBM has to be built and tested and ready for operation before the current one can be shut down. Also, an engineering consulting firm is currently trying to identify the best site for the new SBM. At a guess, Youldon added, the new site is likely to be slightly (about a kilometre) to the south of the present, and close to the mouth of the Umlaas Canal cutting. But, before re-siting can begin, an environmental impact study will have to be completed and accepted. And the immediate acceptance is no easy matter, with the South Durban communities already displaying heavyweight opposition to the dig-out port itself. And, with the popularity of the Umlaas Canal beach as an ideal diving and fishing spot, this SBM siting is also likely to be a target for some strong protest. INSERT & CAPTION An amendment to the original NPA inserted in the new act of 2005 gives the minister of transport the right to declare a port. – Mike Walwyn