The port of Durban, responsible for 70% of Africa's container traffic, is the busiest harbour in the southern hemisphere.
However, the overwhelming growth in container traffic since 1994 has severely strained existing port capacity and frustrated port users through congestion and delays.
In response, the government has dedicated R1,6bn to upgrading the port facilities through the Port of Durban Development 2005 project.
Objectives include increasing the capacity of the container terminal from the 1,2-million 20foot equivalents (TEUs) a year to 1,6-million TEUs by 2005.
General cargo operations at the city terminal will be consolidated through the relocation of existing operations at pier one, which will in turn be converted into a further expansion of the container terminal.
The project will be undertaken by Transnet, with SA Port Operations (Sapo) focusing on the equipment side and the National Port Authority of SA (NPASA) concentrating on the infrastructural side of the venture.
In terms of Project 2005, Sapo will invest R700m in purchasing 60 new straddle carriers, 35 of which will replace existing older machines and the balance will boost the total fleet to 85; three additional ship-to-shore container gantries; and converting the existing ship-to-shore gantries from a 550V power supply to a 11kV supply.
Sapo has acquired various other container-handling equipment and new general cargohandling equipment.
The NPASA will invest R900m on constructing new quay walls at the city terminal to create additional back-up area and depth alongside the quays, and build concrete paving and services behind the new quay walls.
A new rail terminal and upgraded road access to service the new city terminal will also be developed.
The container and city terminals will benefit from new, expanded and refurbished workshop facilities, while the surfaces, buildings and sheds at pier one will be demolished to make way for concrete paving similar to the existing container terminal.
Sapo has so far spent around R300m, with more than 50 new straddle carriers already in service and tenders closed for the ship-to-shore gantries.
Tenders for a number of the container handling equipment projects are in various stages of adjudication.
The straddle carrier replacement programme forms part of the overall thrust to boost container handling capacity and productivity. Each new carrier is fitted with twin engines, necessary to deliver the speed for transporting containers from the road and rail distribution carriers to export stacks and vice versa.
The NPASA has invested more than R200m, with the contract for the new quay walls under way and the road upgrade to the city terminal virtually complete.
In January, construction began on the long-awaited Durban car terminal expansion.
Plans for this venture include building a three-tier parking garage and an overhead bridge that links the quayside to the terminal. The bridge will be completed by December.
The 14-month-long project will provide 3000 additional parking bays by the March 2004 hand-over, which the port authorities say will "go a long way in catering for the increasing import and export throughput from Durban harbour".
The project assumes additional relevance when considered in the light of the recently launched Toyota export project to Australia.
The motor manufacturer is currently producing right-handdrive Toyota RunX vehicles for sale on the Australian market.
The port anticipates that more than 1000 vehicles will move through its facilities each month as the Toyota venture gathers steam.
Toyota says its programme to enter the export market will see it achieve a production capacity of 200000 units annually by 2007, of which around 80000 will be sold locally, leaving 112000 for export.
The car terminal recently became the first terminal in the port to achieve a five-star safety award from the National Occupational Safety Association, after a four-star grading last year.
