Congestion forces postponement of port deepening programme

ALAN PEAT
WITH SEASONAL congestion having started to plague the Port of Durban, work on the harbour entrance channel, which would have shut the port for six days, has been put on hold by the National Ports Authority (NPA). As part of the port development programme the cut-mouth through the sand-bar between the Point and the Bluff is to be widened and deepened extensively. But the preliminary testing of the composition of the seabed with a drilling programme has been stalled, as an attempt by the port to keep the flow of container vessels running during the busy pre-Christmas flood of imports. The geotechnical drilling examination was originally programmed for October when it was intended to close the channel to shipping. But, an NPA spokesman told FTW, the authority postponed the programme for the time being – with the drilling now likely to commence only after the peak season rush. No firm dates have yet been decided, the spokesman added.