Is the dig-out port on or off?

One of the more important
issues facing the maritime
industry in Durban, from a
long-term perspective, is whether
the land previously occupied by
Acsa as the Durban International
Airport will be preserved in a
usable condition for a future digout
Superport.
The question has been tossed
around for several years and in
fact goes back as far as the 1950s
when a proposal was made to
extend a channel from the Port
of Durban all the way through
Clairwood and Merebank suburbs
to link up with the Umlaas Canal,
which had recently been cut
through the Bluff to drain the area
for Durban’s then new airport on
Reunion Flats.
Quite what the purpose of the
lengthy canal or passageway
would have been has never been
explained, but the concept of a
new port to the south persisted
and was resurrected in the mid
1990s during the huge debate over
creating a new container terminal
on Durban Bay’s
central sandbank.
More recently Transnet Capital
Projects took up the idea as part
of its vision for Durban in the
so-called Transnet Infrastructure
Plan, a new name for the Port
Master Plan of old. From this
came a workable concept of
digging out a wide and deep basin
along the area used as the main
runway at the old airport. The
airport has been relocated to the
north of Durban. Land on either
side of this dug out basin would
become container stacking yards
for a new container terminal, and
facilities would also be created
for a number of tanker berths
capable of handling VLCC vessels
in addition to a separate facility
for a car terminal – the huge
Toyota manufacturing plant being
adjacent.
Transnet has never stated
categorically whether this new
port – for that is what it would
be rather than an extension of
Durban – will be built but the
infrastructure plan points the way
forward once the present port is
considered to have been fully
developed.
In 2009 Tau Morwe, then
CEO of Transnet Port Terminals,
indicated that Transnet was having
discussions with the city, with
Acsa and with the KwaZulu-Natal
provincial
government on future plans for the
old airport site and how best to
utilise this prime land.
One of the key advantages is
that the new port is situated right
next to the N2 highway and would
avoid complicating further traffic
congestion in the current port and
CBD area.
That the city sees it this way was made evident at a public
meeting held at the end of May
when city manager, Dr Mike
Sutcliffe, addressed the issues of
the proposed dig-out Superport.
It became clear the city was
strongly in favour of this option
and would not stand in the way of
it becoming a reality in the future.
Sutcliffe made a strong plea for
the property to be integrated into a
new Superport and emphasised the
need for long-term planning.
Acsa, which is the legal owner
of the land, not surprisingly wants
to sell the site as soon as possible.
The airports company has an
urgent need for cash to pay for
having been told by government
to build the new King Shaka
International Airport.
While initially indicating its
interest, Transnet subsequently
advised Acsa that it would not
be making a bid for this land.
Instead Transnet says that it has
proposed to the Department of
Public Enterprises that, due to
the strategic nature of the land,
consideration should be given
to retaining it under government
control for possible future portrelated
development.
Transnet’s current approach is
meanwhile to sweat its assets at
Durban as far as is possible, with
an extension to Pier 1 Container
Terminal into the Salisbury Island
land the most likely next step.
The company has almost
completed a programme of
relocating workshops and staff
parking to enlarge the existing
stacking area while options exist
to extend the capacity of DCT by
means of vertical expansion at
some point in the future.
This would require converting
the terminal to a rubber tyre
gantry-type operation and
allowing for container stacks of up
to five high.
Another option available to
Transnet is to utilise part of the
City Terminal more fully as a
container terminal. Container
handling is already under way
here, using ships’ own gear and
a mobile crane. The fact that
the City Terminal has the port’s
deepest berths – 13.4m
alongside – is another advantage.
These options together with the
economic downturn make any
decision to dig out the airport site
for a new container superport a
long-term option for Transnet.
The problem is that the airport
site is now available, with Acsa
desperate to sell it – but the timing
is not right for Transnet to look
too closely in that direction.