The South African president has outlined plans to restore Durban’s position as Africa’s largest container port.
Cyril Ramaphosa has unveiled a R100bn ($7bn) blueprint to expand capacity in Durban from 2.9m teu to 11m teu over the coming decade.
The plans seek private investment to work alongside state-run port operator Transnet with significant dredging around key channels to allow larger ships to call. Current berths would be upgraded, while a new container terminal is also to be built at Point Precinct, an area of the city that is undergoing a massive makeover at the moment.
“There is still much work to be done to position Durban as a world-class port and as a hub port for the Southern Hemisphere,” Ramaphosa conceded while outlining his vision for the revamped port, which also calls for its car carrying capacity to increase by two-thirds.
Durban was Africa’s busiest container port for decades but has now slipped into third place behind Tangiers in Morocco and Port Said in Egypt.
Source: Splash
