PORT NEWS
Upgrade complete at Durban
Transnet has completed the expansion of Durban harbour, allowing access to larger vessels, including containerships of up to 9,200 TEU capacity. The R3B project was undertaken by
a consortium of South Africa’s Group 5 and Dredging International of Belgium, and backed by a R4B loan from the Ja- pan Bank for International Cooperation. Chris Wells, Transnet’s acting group
CEO, said, “This port is key to Transnet’s growth strategy and our objective is to improve customer service, safety and en- vironmental compliance, contain operat- ing costs as well as to take advantage of revenue and volume growth opportuni- ties. Operationally, it will help us meet the stringent targets we have set ourselves on improving efficiency in our ports through reducing shipping delays and improving terminal operations.” As part of the project, the original
North Pier has been removed and a new breakwater constructed, while the South Pier has been strengthened. The harbour entrance has been widened from 125m to 225m and the channel has been wid- ened from 130m to 225m. The channel has also been dredged from 12.8m to be- tween 16m and 19m, while the channel inside the harbour has been deepened to at least 12.8m. “The primary motive for the deep-
ening and widening, which we completed in February this year ahead of demand and below budget, was the safety of ves- sels calling at the port of Durban, as well as to provide for a key element of the port’s ability to handle larger vessels,” said Transnet spokesperson John Dludlu. “Now that the widening and deep-
ening is complete, the next phase to deepen the basin leading to the container terminal, as well as the deepening of the berths at the Durban Container Termi- nal, is beginning.”
Indian minor ports narrow the gap
The gap between cargo volumes handled by India’s major and minor ports is nar- rowing. Major ports handled 95% of In- dia’s cargo in 1999, but their share fell to 65% last year. “This dramatic shift was possible
thanks to the private-public-partnership model and private participation in minor ports,” said Prof G Y V Victor of Interna- tional Seaport Dredging. Of the 190 minor Indian ports, only
61 are functional and only some provide 24-hour service. “If these ports were fully tapped and properly managed, India’s han- dling capacity would increase dramati- cally,” Prof Victor said. The private sector is estimated to have
invested Rs100B (US$2.24B) in Indian port infrastructure over the past few years. Shipping Minister G K Vasan said the government is making every effort to in- crease the capacity of the 12 major ports from 575mt to over 1bt by 2012, the last year of the 11th Five-Year Plan. “We also propose to increase the ca-
pacity of minor ports to 580mt, so that the total capacity across all Indian ports reaches 1.5bt by 2012,” he said. Vasan said that by 2012, the govern-
ment will have invested over Rs558T (US$12.53B) on port development un- der the National Maritime Development Programme, adding that 50 of the 276 identified projects had already been com- pleted at a cost of Rs57.17B (US$1.28B). “The focus has been on increasing ca-
pacity and on developing ports and related infrastructure to bring them to interna- tional standards,” he said. “Most of the ca- pacity increase has been planned under the public-private partnership model.”
April 2010
Schwedenkai moves on
After a construction period of around one year, the basic work on the €20M new ferry terminal building at the Port of Kiel’s Schwedenkai has been finsihed. “The new terminal, built by a joint
venture of Heinrich Karstens and Friedrich Helbig, is of excellent quality and will become a landmark in our city,” said Dr Dirk Claus, managing director of Seehafen Kiel GmbH & Co KG, speaking at the topping-out ceremony. The 46m tall building has 13 storeys and a gross area of 12,000 m2
. The lower
floors will be used as office space and lease agreements with a number of firms have already been secured. Seehafen Kiel is also investing in new
capacity at Schwedenkai, where the daily Stena Line ferry service to Gothenburg is handled. By September a new flexible ro-ro ramp, built to the latest EU stand- ards by TTS (see p32), will have been installed, along with a fixed gangway. A direct rail link will be reopened to
the berth to facilitate dispatch of intermodal traffic. Combi-handling op- erations will be performed with reach stackers, although there are provisional plans to acquire at least one RTG as traf- fic builds up.
The new Schwedenkai (Stena Line) terminal building is set to become a major landmark in the city of Kiel
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