The Port is Alive with the Sound of Investment

In one month President Jacob Zuma has opened Kwazulu Natal’s Dube Trade Port and the Eastern Cape’s Ngqura Port. But some of the biggest investment in South African ports is happening at the Durban Port.

 

National government has declared that it will spend R21billion on the infrastructure of the Durban port over the next seven years. This allocation is part of the R300bn of transport and logistics projects that President Jacob Zuma mentioned in his state of the nation address.

 

Even though Transnet has spent the last 12 years building the deepest container terminal in sub-Saharan Africa at Ngqura near the Coege Industrial Development Zone outside Port Elizabeth, this does not diminish the need to raise Durban port’s capacity to 5-million 20-foot-equivalent containers a year, from 2,71-million last year. Durban, Africa’s biggest container harbour, handled 61,7% of all containers that moved through SA’s commercial ports last year.  Shipping firms among other transport operators have been grumbling for some time about the inefficiency at the port.

 

The dug-out port project, south of the port, adjacent to the Durban’s industrial heart, was proposed nearly two years ago when options were being mulled over regarding the site of the old airport. It involves spending about R50bn in the first of four phases and was deemed necessary because economic forecasts showed the existing facilities would be inadequate.

 

Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry CEO Andrew Layman said: “With a project of this magnitude, the sooner we get going the better. The issue of uncertainty bedevils investment.”

 

One project at the port which hasn’t been delayed is the R256m project to provide two more truck staging areas capable of facilitating 136 trucks, and a new four-lane dual carriageway, among other facilities, is 68% complete and is expected to be finished by July this year. This bound to bring relief to customers and truckers alike.

 

Also progress has been made deepening the berths on Maydon Wharf to facilitate large ships to use the berths for the first time and improve ease of navigation. This project, the estimated cost of which stands at R1,6bn when complete, is expected to be completed by year end 2014. Plans to deepen several container berths at the Durban Container Terminal on Pier 2 were well underway. The Island View oil and chemical product berths were undergoing an upgrade too.

 

It goes without saying what the knock-on effect is on other industrial and commercial property adjacent to the port or in the city in general as these developments progress.

 

Of course that’s not all that’s going on down at the port: Ranking as one of Durban’s largest leasing deals of its kind in the Durban port area, Growthpoint Properties Limited, the guys who bought the V&A Waterfront, has concluded a transaction with Bidvest Panalpina Logistics (BPL) for 20,767sqm of prime light-industrial space in Rossborough, near the Durban Port, in a deal valued at over R52 million.

 

Bidvest is a large consumer of Growthpoint’s commercial accommodation across the office, retail and industrial sectors. Similarly, Growthpoint is a major client of Bidvest’s services. It’s reported that the biggest challenge of the project was the timeframe. Construction of the redevelopment began in March this year for BPL to be fully operation by November 2011. Growthpoint’s industrial properties in KwaZulu-Natal are valued at nearly R1.3 billion with its entire portfolio in the province totalling some R4.2 billion in value.

 

Coming on the heals of the news that Mombasa and eThekwini are to be sister cities it’s encouraging to see the private sector, local and national government work as a team to keep Durban’s port and environs current. Looking into the future is going to secure the port’s role in the present as it play’s it’s role in the economy of the city and country as a whole.