Master plan to get port shipshape

Bid to become hub for the whole southern hemisphere

A HISTORIC facelift of the Durban port is on the cards, in a major economic private-partnership development drive that could see the naval base and the petrochemical operations moving house.

In an exclusive interview with The Mercury, the port’s general manager, Moshe Motlohi, unveiled a multifaceted, draft “master plan” that promises to restore the port to its glory days when it was the number one marine facility in Africa.

He said Transnet was in a wide-ranging consultation process towards approval and implementation of the plan, which aims to fast-track the port’s growth from the current 2.9 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of containers to 11.3 million TEUs annual container handling capacity.

Even though it remains one of the largest ports in Sub-Saharan Africa in terms of cargo value and vessel calls a year, Durban lost its lucrative status in recent years to Morocco, followed by Egypt, Motlohi said.

“We need to revitalise the Durban port and its surrounds as a matter of urgency, so that we are attractive to Eastern countries as a cost effective port in which to do marine business.

“We should be able to have even the largest of vessels having no problem entering our harbour mouth, being able to make a turn and to berth or dock,” he said.

The idea, which is in keeping with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement in the State of the Nation Address recently, would involve the SANDF’s 75-year-old naval base and the bulk terminal – that houses the petroleum, chemicals, vegetable oils and lubricants operations – relocating, possibly to Richards Bay.

Some port waters are to be solidified (filled in) in order to expand container storage ground, while significant berth deepening and widening would be done in parts of the harbour, including its approach and entry channel, to allow for radically increased docking for the largest vessels in the world.

Motlohi said the plan would be finalised by an earlier 2035 date and be more cost-effective at R100.3 billion as opposed to R118.4bn, which was costed in the original idea that would have seen changes taking effect much later, in 2046.

As part of the plan, the railway network around the city would be upgraded so as to limit the high volumes of truck traffic currently causing bottlenecks in and around the port precinct.

The Cato Ridge precinct would be developed into a private sector driven intermodal industrial cluster that would assist in de-congesting the port by way of making the precinct a truck off-loading and on-loading zone, linking the N3 freeway to the railway from the port.

“This would contribute to the socio-economic objectives of Southern Africa through job creation and supplier development,” Motlohi said.

In addition, either a fly-over from the Point precinct on to the western outskirts of the city or an underground subway would have to be erected to prevent inner-city congestion.

“We want to move away from roads to railways,” Motlohi said.

“Upgrading the railway infrastructure, and security around it, in the vicinity of the port and around the city of Durban is a must,” he said.

The master plan was taking into account issues of climate change and the green environment in that the use of petrol- and diesel-based transportation was being curtailed.

“The world is moving away from petrol and diesel, and so we should align with the global trends,” he said.

According to the plan, moving the coal and gas storage to Richards Bay would help consolidate the Port of Richards Bay as an industrial port, thus enhancing a complimentary port system.

The move would create an opportunity to upgrade facilities for the SA Navy, which he said was at present constrained in the smaller Salisbury Island, into a world-class military system able to respond quickly to piracy from the northern waters.

“We are busy with consultations. We are bringing on board every stakeholder from eThekwini town planners, our own technical teams, environmentalists and the business community. We are harmonising the port’s master development plan with eThekwini’s master plan for development.

“We are taking into account the existence of marine life in the harbour, hence the work will bring environmentalists to advise on how to not harm the ecological balance in the area.

“We will bring international experts who will review our plan to see if it is achievable and feasible.

“But in the end, we are developing a plan that will yield major spin-offs for the city, the province of KZN and the country as a whole in terms of job creation. It will be a significant injection into the local gross domestic product.

“As soon as it is in place, as Durban, we will be a port that will attract investment. We will be a port that is a hub for the whole of the southern hemisphere.

“There would no longer be a need for the global community to use alternative entry points into Africa, just because we don’t have the capacity to handle their huge vessels,” said Motlohi.

The Provincial Executive Council has welcomed the planned expansion of the port in terms of the port master development plan.

Following a briefing by a high level delegation from Transnet, cabinet issued a statement in support of the plan.

Cabinet emphasised the importance of the implementation of all the proposals that are part of the master plan, saying there was a need to move towards fast tracking the implementation of all the projects that have been pronounced.