Cruise ships spend only a short time in port with very little revenue accruing to Portnet PORTNET IS to take a re-look at facilities for visiting cruise ships following widespread criticism of the existing passenger terminal at N-Shed.
There has been a spate of cruise ships calling at Durban over the four months since December, including the luxurious Oriana, Royal Viking Sun, and Crystal Symphony. In addition MSC has made Durban home port for the Symphony for an extended 18-month season. Its latest purchase, the Melody, is also due to visit next month.
All in all tens of thousands of passengers have visited Durban during the past four months, with the Symphony accounting for well over 20 000 of these on her own. Meanwhile the tourist industry is becoming more and more critical of the lack of facilities in the port. These centre around an old tarted-up goods shed which is passed off as a passenger terminal building. A cruise ship executive has even claimed that some of their passengers refused to disembark at Durban, preferring to spend the day aboard ship after taking a look at what awaited them.
A proposal has been made that part of the Ocean Terminal building be given over to receiving these passengers - the purpose for which the building was originally designed in the days of the mail boats. Portnet however says it needs the space for office accommodation, because we like to keep our people together in one building, which is fair enough observation.
However, a meeting with interested parties has now been arranged to discuss these mounting problems and to find a possible solution. One of the drawbacks is that cruise ships usually require deep water berthing, and they then get to spend only a short time in port with very little revenue accruing to Portnet. The main beneficiary, it seems, is the tourist industry, plus of course considerable foreign exchange gains and goodwill for the country.
There have been some innovative and fantastic ideas for a new terminal building, including a building with a sail-like roofline reminiscent of the Sydney Opera House.
However, considering the large amount of vacant office space available in nearby Transnet-owned buildings, as well as a new office block presently being built at the adjacent Cato Creek (site of the motor vehicle terminal), it seems a pity Portnet can't make space in a small section of the building that was custom-built for this purpose! BY TERRY HUTSON
