Salisbury Island expansion rumours gain momentum

'Only a matter of time,' says Morwe Terry Hutson IT IS only a matter of time before Salisbury Island in the middle of Durban Harbour is incorporated into port operations for container purposes, says CEO for South African Port Operations (SAPO) Tau Morwe. His statement last week echoes the sentiments of several other senior NPA (National Ports Authority) and SAPO people, adding substance to the 'rumour' reported in FTW on October 25, which the commanding officer at the Durban Naval Station, Commander Dave Jones, emphatically denied. According to port people it is only a matter of time before the pressure cooker that is the Durban container terminal forces attention to the last remaining piece of real estate in the harbour. Unfortunately for the navy it recently downgraded its importance by either transferring or retiring most of the personnel and ships away from Durban, leaving a few harbour launches and a surf rescue boat as its representative. The unkind wags will add that the island is home to the most expensive and underused soccer ground in Durban. Up until last year the Naval Base, as it then was, had a complement of over a thousand people, including civilian technicians employed on the navy's strike craft. The strike craft, along with personnel, are now deemed redundant to navy requirements and have been put out to pasture, but not the one on Salisbury Island! Port authorities reckon a container terminal on the island could increase Durban's capacity considerably at relatively low cost and is one of the few areas in the harbour in which natural commercial expansion can take place. Time and common sense should ensure that the right decision is made, preferably without filibuster.