The South African port authorities have started a long overdue upgrade of the container terminal in the country’s busiest port in Durban.
The work will eventually bring relief to a beleaguered citrus industry, which for many years now has been suffering port congestion during the peak export season.
While the project will eventually allow bigger container vessels to berth, it is likely to cause further problems in the interim. “The upgrading of the terminals commenced this week and will indeed impact the port operations,” said Citrus Growers’ Association (CGA) spokesperson, Mitchell Brooke.
With fears in the fruit sector South Africa could again see similar strike-action to that experienced two years ago when container terminals were virtually shut down for three weeks during the peak season, it is understandable the industry is facing the season with trepidation.
“It is still premature to determine the full impact of the upgrade of the terminal in Durban but shipping lines have indicated some 480,000 TEUs will need to be diverted to other ports,” said Brooke.
“Sending cargo southwards to Port Elizabeth or the Ngqura terminal at Coega is not really an option due to increased transport costs and limited cross-docking capacity in the area. Maputo in Mozambique is an option and we will most likely see an uptake through there this year,” he said.
The CGA said other options were being explored such as loading break-bulk from the private berths of Maputo Freight Terminal or at Fresh Produce Terminals in Durban, but this shipping mode is more expensive.
While the quay wall is being rebuilt to allow deeper draught ships to call alongside,berths at Durban Container Terminal’s North Quay (Pier 2) will be taken out of use one at a time. This will results in a 15 per cent loss in the Pier 2 capacity. The Port Authorities indicated some of this capacity will be re-allocated by temporarily transferring container handling capacity to the City Terminal on the point, where berths A and D will be used.
In addition, more containers will be handled at Maydon Wharf, which is already being utilised at present.
The port is also in discussion with shipping lines about diverting containers to Port Elizabeth and Ngqura Port in the Eastern Cape.
Mr Brooke said it was expected the Fresh Produce Exporters’ Forum (FPEF) would coordinate further industry meetings to discuss some of the proposals to alleviate possible problems.
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